An Ice Age FanFic: A Demon in the Midst
by NyanCat13
Summary: Something has been seen lurking in the forest, something neither human nor animal. It's up to a frustrated Sid the sloth the save the day after nobody belives him. With the help of San, they discover a terrifying new secret... Ice Age and Princess Mononoke Crossover-Rated T because of the demon and mild scary content.
1. How To Make A Fool Of Yourself Without D

**Okay, this is my first fanfic so please enjoy. Something is seen lurking in the forest, and it's certainly no animal or human. It's up to a frustrated Sid the sloth to save the day after nobody believes him. Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age, or any of its characters. I do not own the character of San, or the demon from Princess Mononoke. All rights belong to 20th Century Fox, BlueSky Studios and Studio Ghibli. **

Chapter 1: How to Make A Fool of Yourself Without Doing A Thing

The meadow was still, and quiet. Beyond grassy fields half covered with sparkling crystal white snow, and high tall fir and pine trees encrusted with thin pointy needles, there was a low, rustling sound, like a creeping, hungry predator, ravenous for blood. Silently it turned and made its way towards a sleepy looking valley, in a mud covered ground. it got nearer, it sunk its claws into a nearby tree, leaving scratches so deep, it was as though a machete knife had hacked into it. Nearer now, it emerged from the trees, along with a protruding belly and an oddly shaped head. Carrying bark back down to the valley was the lazy, naïve and somewhat annoying Sid the sloth. Sloths are notoriously not the brightest of creatures, for if he had even bothered to look round, he would have seen the piles of sticks he was dropping behind him. He stopped in front of him, his teal coloured eyes glinting in the morning sun. Down below him were all the animals of the valley, children playing, adults chatting-the usual goings on. His eyes lit up when he saw his friend, Manny the woolly mammoth, his mate Ellie, her possum "brothers", Crash and Eddie and their teenage daughter Peaches.

"HEY GUYS!" he called to his friends as he lifted the pile of bark higher to avoid dropping them, "I'M BACK!" They all looked up at the floppy green shape that was their lisping friend. "I GOT THE-WOOAAHH!" He suddenly slipped on a piece of the twigs he had dropped and skidded sideways, then tilted forward and tumbled down the hill at high-speed.

"Look out!" shouted Crash.

"Unidentified Falling Object!" cried Eddie pointing up at Sid. The two possums darted out-of-the-way as Sid fell faster and faster, and as he gathered speed he shot through the air towards them until he was eventually caught by Manny who glared at him as he let the sloth down.

"Hey Manny!" he chirped brightly. He jumped down to pick up the sticks as Peaches helped him.

"Are you okay Sid?" Ellie asked anxiously, "you're not hurt are you?" "Me, no" Sid tried to convince her, "I've just got a few pains-and maybe a broken back."

"Uncle Sid, what is all this?" Peaches asked. eyebrows at all the bark littered across the valley floor.

"This, Peaches,my dear niece, is all for when Uncle Diego gets here-speaking of which where is he?" The gang hadn't seen their sabre friend since last night when he had gone off hunting and hadn't come back.

"I'm sure he's off chasing a gazelle or something," shrugged Manny, "he'll be back soon." Well, he did seem a little off yesterday," Ellie told him, "he didn't really talk to anyone." "That's just Diego," assured Manny, "he hides himself." All the same, Ellie was still concerned.

Running down the hill at that moment to join them was San, wearing her wolf pelt and carrying her dagger. She hid in the trees, but still hadn't seen any sabre, or a tiger shape of any kind. She had also been looking for Diego, but hadn't had much luck. She sighed, slumping up against a tree, fiddling with her short brown hair and had eventually just given up. So she decided to go back to her friends hoping he' st be with them. They all looked up as she came nearer and nearer, standing to a graceful halt beside Peaches.

"San, nice entrance!" greeted Manny. San gave a wry smile.

"Thanks," she said, "hey, you guys haven't seen Diego today have you? I've been meaning to ask him something."

"Nope, we haven't seen him either," Ellie shook her head sadly, "he still hasn't returned from his hunt."

"Whatcha wanna ask him anyway?" asked Eddie, but before she could answer, Shira arrived, the beautiful grey female sabre tooth tiger, with the lovely sapphire eyes and the two earings up one ear, one blue and one turquoise.

"Morning," she smiled.

"Hey Shira," everyone said simultaneously.

"You look nice this morning," said Manny,

"It's a gift!" Shira replied jokingly, "anyway have you guys seen Diego?" This was really starting to get confusing.

"No, nobody has." shrugged Manny, "you're like the third person who's asked that today". Shira looked surprised.

"Oh! Well, that's very unusual, hope he's doing ok," Her eyes fell on Sid. "Um- OK, what the heck is he doing?" "Being Sid," Manny replied darkly, as Sid appeared to be arranging his face out of the twigs.

At that moment, Diego appeared, his orange fur slightly stained, and sticking up-he had definitely been in a hunt.

"Oh, there you are!" said Manny, "we were starting to worry."

"Well, I'm back!" Diego said trying to fix a smile on his face.

"Ya get lucky?"

"No, afraid not. Unfortunetly nothing, I guess I could have the remains of last nights dinner."

"Oh! Sorry to hear that tiger!" It wasn't like Diego to lose a hunt. Forget that, it wasn't like Diego to _tell_ anyone he had lost a hunt."

"Diego!" Sid cried delightedly, running up to his friend, and hugging him tightly. Diego nervously pushed the sloth away. He wasn't one for affectionate physical contact. "Sid, remember that little talk we had about boundaries-?" Diego began, but Sid cut him off,

"Which, Diego, my sabre friend, is exactly what the bark is for," Sid said sticking the bark into the ground round Diego like a fence.

"This, is what separates you from me," Sid said proudly, standing back to admire his handiwork.

"Sid, that's not exactly what I meant," Diego started, but then just gave up-it was pointless to really explain anything to Sid without him taking it a little too literally.

"But if it makes you happy," he finished. "Great!" said Sid clapping his hands.

Ellie then decided that because it was such as beautiful day that they all take a long walk through the forest to clear their heads.

"That sounds like a good idea," said Shira flicking a bit of grey fur out of her face, "i'll be nice to go on a morning stroll. Suddenly out of the corner of their eyes, they saw something scurrying beneath the ground-and hitting it's head on a rock. There was a muffled cry of "Ow!" from underground.

"It's Louis!" Peaches said happily. She smiled as her little molehog friend poked his head out of a mound of dirt, rubbing debris off the top of his head.

"Hey Peaches!" he smiled, and Crash and Eddie sniggered. Everyone knew that Louis had a crush on Peaches for a long time.

"Hey Louis!" said Peaches, "we were just about to go for a walk, wanna come?"

"M-me?" Louis stammered looking up at her with wide brown eyes, "you want me to come with you?"

"Sure!" laughed Peaches, lifting him up on to her back with her trunk, "the more the merrier!"

When the herd imagined a nice relaxing stroll through the forest, anything good was put out of their minds once Sid decided to take his 80-year-old Granny along! She made a crass comment at every step they took, or shouted at anything that crossed their path, embarrassing them all.

"Sydney! Stop touchin' me! Don't you hav' any respect for an old lady?!" as Sid tried to take her arm.

"Quit it! I can chew my own fruit!" as Sid offered to grab a grapefruit off the vine.

"Man, that turtle is getting too old, he coul do much better then that skank he calls a mate!" just as they walked past.

"Sorry," Sid would whisper through gritted teeth every time this happened.

The rest of the walk went pretty well. Sid was teasing Diego at the front of the line, with Diego getting extremely agitated.

"Soooo-"

"So what?"

"So, when are you taking Shira out?"

"Out where?"

"Well, you know-"

"No, I don't Sid, now please leave me alone!"

"Well taking her on a date of course!"

"Uh, well I'm sure that when we get to that stage, then-"

"Well, ya gotta take her out sometime!" Sid tried to tell him, "otherwise, where's the fun in your relationship?"

"Since when did you become an expert in romance, Sid?" Diego asked with a slight smirk. Sid wasn't exactly a lady-magnet, and he wasn't much of a smooth-talker either.

Sid looked defensive. "I'll have you know, tons of ladies are in to me, they just don't act like they are!"

"I'm sure that's the case."

"Come on, a forest stroll like this one?"

"No."

"Along the beach?"

"No."

"What about-"

"No,"

"You didn't even-!"

"End of discussion Sid!" Diego told the sloth firmly. In the middle of the group, was another discussion about love, by the possums and a very annoyed Louis.

"Louis loves Peaches!" Louis loves Peaches!"

"No I don't!"

"Yeah you do! Louis loves Peaches, Louis loves Peaches!"

"I DON'T!" Louis tried to convince them, even though he knew lying was pointless. Peaches was the apple of his eye, well peach! Even though she was a mammoth.

"Do to!"

"Do not!"

"Do to!"

"Do not!"

"Do-"

"Knock it off you guys!" Peaches scolded them, "Louis is an animal like all of us, and doesn't deserve to be teased. OK?" He's entitled to all opinions and if says he has no feelings for me, he has no feelings for me." Louis gave the possums a triumphant smile. "Yes Peaches, your right", they said, pretending to be ashamed, but the moment Peaches' back was turned, they started silently mouthing it to Louis, who could do nothing but glare back.

"Oh, isn't that adorable!" laughed Ellie shaking her head.

"What, the possums acting like complete tools, or the fact that a molehog is in love with my daughter?" Manny said sarcastically.

"Manny! I guess it's a little of both. Love appears to be in the air, right at the moment," she said, gesturing in the direction of Diego and Shira. "Yeah, well do you really think he's gonna propose or something?" "I sure do hope so!"

At the back of the line, San was chatting to Shira, oblivious to the other two conversations.

"Is Diego doing OK," said a puzzled looking San "Ellie's right, he's not quite himself." "Oh, Diego's a mysterious little soul," Shira said, "and a softy!" Seeing San fiddling with her hair (as she recognised as her point of thinking body-language), she asked her, "What did you want to ask him anyway?"

San bit her lip. "I was hoping he'd teach me how to hunt," San said eventually, "that deer I caught yesterday wasn't really clean enough kill." "Why? You're a good enough hunter." "I'm not that good," San said hanging her head, "have you seen Diego hunt? He's brilliant! Really really good, I still can't belive he lost one today, but I need a bit more practice. Also I'm worried about him. I heard him sneak off in the middle of the night, he's doing that more often these days. I'm starting to wonder. Is it just a sabre thing? Or is something going on?" Shira thought for a bit, then said, "Diego is full of secrets, San. You got to remember that. I'm sure he's just fine, don't you worry." But San saw the look in her pretty sapphire eyes and knew that she was worried too.

Manny had also been noticing this, and he waited until Ellie got enrolled in a conversation with the girls, then headed to the front to see if he could talk with Diego. He was still having a very nauseating conversation with Sid.

"But, what if-"

"No, Sid!"

Sid had to go then, because Granny was yelling something very rude indeed at the birds in the trees and had to steer her away, leaving Manny at last to speak with Diego.

"Um, Diego?" Diego's ears pricked up to show he was listening. "Ellie and a few of the others, think that somethings up, and to be honest with you so do I". "What about?" said Diego looking up. "Oh, nothing just, you disappearing all the time, not speaking to anyone much losing a hunt-he stopped-your not leaving again are you?" he asked rather worriedly. "No." "Oh good", Manny said breathing a sigh of relief, "because,we need you here Diego, all of us, not to mention Shira-" "Yes, I have heard from Sid," Diego muttered, "but no, seriously Manny, nothing's wrong. You don't have to worry about me."

They stopped staring over at Granny who wasn't too happy about being taken away from, "Dag nabbit you dumb birds, quit that there singin' don't y'all know to keep that feathery screecher you call a beak shut?! San tried to hide a snicker under her hand, but wasn't quite quick enough. Soon she had everybody laughing. It turned out to be a good day after all. But then Diego turned and marched on ahead. "Come on everyone!" he called over his shoulder, "we need to keep moving!" Manny stared into those fiery hazel-green eyes. It didn't take a genius to figure out something was wrong.

**Well, that's my first chapter! Sorry if it was a bit long and rambling, I had so many ideas. Hope y****ou enjoyed it anyway though. Thanks for reading and don't forget to post your reviews!**


	2. Chapter 2: Sid is Nearly Attacked By a M

An Ice Age FanFic: A Demon in the Midst

I've decided to post a new chapter-hope this one will be a bit more interesting!

Chapter 2: Sid is Nearly Attacked By A Monster

Through the woods the next day, an uncomfortable chill hung around in the air. It was snowing quite a lot more and every tree had been thawed over with a thick blanket of snow. Since Sid had left the forest after searching for wood, things hadn't quite been the same. It was cold even for the Ice Age, and the animals of the valley didn't like it one bit.

"There's too much frost around these days," they heard a glyptodon complain, "it looks like we've got a harsh winter on the way!" He was right too. The tempreture was below freezing and one day, Sid came across a tiny violet woodland flower, that had frozen up, litterally turned to a block of ice.

About three months into this new phenomenon, a huge blizzard struck the valley, twisting its way through the forests and hills, and covering the mountains in such a thick layer of snow, most animals were having a hard time finding food. All the best berry bushes had once grown up there and now they were reduced to very thin branches sticking out of the white ground. The herd were unfortunate enough to get caught in it, the flakes of white snow dampening their fur, seeping through their skin into their bones even, like a chilly virus.

"Quick!" shouted Manny, get everyone together, stay close! It's very easy to get lost!" With chattering teeth and bones numb, they eventually found a cave and settled ito it, watching the rucus outside through tiny cracks in the rocks.

2I wonder whats happening", Ellie said to Manny after they had taken shelter, "this is very unusual weather even down here in this valley. It's normally cold, but what could be happening?"

"I dunno," gulped Manny, "but I don't like it."

Thankfully, after a few more weeks, all of this commotion seemed to calm down slightly. The snow melted away and the flowers all came out in bloom again. The children of the valley came out to frolic among the newly sprouted daffodills and the herd were finnally able to go somewhere without being engulfed in a snow cloud. Everything seemed to be back to normal.

But Manny hadn't forgotten about Diego and what he had said. "but seriously Manny, it's fine-don't worry about me..." The words were still buzzing around Manny's head like an angry wasp. And the more he thought about Diego telling him there was nothing wrong, the more he was sure something was wrong. It was a strange feeling of fear and anxiety put into one. Most of the time, he would go for a walk near the glade in the thicket, were it was nice and shaded, to see if he could relax himself. But the more he tried to forget, the more the words nagged at the back of his head.

At long last, Ellie figured out something was deeply wrong. She saw him in the thicket under the weeping willow tree, skippin stones with his trunk, it was one of his favourite places to go when he was deppressed.

"Manny, you OK?"

Manny wheeled round, slightly startled.

"Hm? Oh! Yes, Ellie everythings fine, it's just fine.

"You don't look fine. Is something bothering you?"

"No."

Ellie laughed."You're a terrible liar, you know. I can see right through you."

"Well, yeah okay, . Something is wrong."

"Anything I can help with?"

Manny looked worried. "I guess I could tell you," he muttered, "well, Diego hasn't really been himself lately, like you said, and now I've started to notice it too."

"Is this about the hunt?" Ellie asked suspiciously.

"Among other things," Manny replied.

"Why not try asking him then? Have you talked to him about it.?" Ellie asked gently. "I did!" Manny protested, but he just replied-" he cleared his throat putting on Diego's gruff voice-"Oh, everything's fine, Manny, don't worry about me Manny," "How am I supposed to respond to that?"

Ellie raised an eyebrow. "Manny, it's not that hard, stop stressing yourself silly over nothing, that's all I can say." Manny decided to take her advice. After all life was too short to something to worry about.

Sid the sloth hummed to himself as he strolled down the path back to the valley. He had been looking for fruit to gather for Granny-and himself-but ever since the snow storms there hadn't been much to eat. All he had found so far were three plums, some peppermint leaves and an acorn (which he had stolen off a squirrel in the woods after it fell from a tree, and the little squirrel was not happy!) Strolling back through the trees, the sloth stopped. He had come across the same tree he had walked by days ago, but hadn't noticed that it had deep claw scratches, that obviously weren't on there by accident. It was as though an animal had sharpened it's talons on the tree's bark. Sid took a closer look at this wondering why he hadn't seen this the weeks before, probably because he was so eager in getting his wood pile back to the valley that he had walked right passed it. He touched it with his own claws to examine the tears in the tree's bark, when suddenly, he heard something behind him. Sid turned round quickly, as the sound of crunching, dead leaves, echod across the forest. Sid stopped to listen, even though his hearing was poor, shrugged, and continued to walk. But as he did so, he couldn't help but feel like something was watching him very closely, with two evil eyes. Still walking, but gulping and afraid the sloth tried to tiptoe, but hearing a swishing noise, like a tail, he soon broke into a run. Sprinting down the pathway now, the terrified sloth came to a halt at a clump of trees that neared the valley. Phew, he thought, made it! He turned around-and stopped dead. He let out a blood-curdling scream.

Back at the valley, Manny and Ellie were walking together under the shade of the trees,while San and the possums played chases up ahead. Peaches and Louis were both playing too, Peaches swinging from tree to tree by her tail, and Louis despretely trying to keep up underground, digging as fast as he could. Granny was sitting on a rock, sulking.

"Where's that dang grandson of mine!" she huffed, "he shoulda been back by now!"

"I'm sure he's not far", Ellie said, but the old bat did have a point. Where was Sid? Surely it didn't take long to go look for fruit.

"Probably found a whole supply of food and is still eating away!" muttered Manny.

2Hmph! Just like that lazy boy!" Granny said sourly, folding her arms.

At that very momement, they all looked up towards the trees, where an animal was running down the hill as fast as it's legs would carry them. "It's Sid!" Ellie called out. "Hehad better a' got my fruit!" said Granny, bitterly. Sid came screaming down the hill, waving his arms about in terror. When he eventually reached the herd, the colour had drained from his face, and could hardly speak.

"Sid! What's wrong!" San came running over, and the possums both followed, exchanging nervous glances.

"Sid, are you alright!?" gasped Manny.

"You look a though you've just seen a ghost!"

"Uh uuggh-!" Sid stammered, that was all he could say.

San interpreted for them. "Um, okay, so you were in the forest,"

"Did he get the fruit?" Granny wanted to know, but the mammoths motioned for her to be quiet. Doing that, she did not. "I knew it! I shoulda known better then to send Sydney out for anything!" she complained loudly. San continued her translation of Sid's gargles and whimpers and groans.

"Let's see, you got the fruit, but dropped it, (Granny snorted) and you saw something."

"Saw something-what?" Manny cut in. "Ssh!" hushed Ellie, he's trying to tell us something!"

"You what, Sid?" San asked.

"Muggh-mu"

"A what?"

"Mo-on-o!"

"Spit it out Sid, we don't have all day!" Manny snapped.

"M-m-MONSTER!"

Sid started freaking out all over again. Manny had to shake and slap him with his runk to get him to calm down. "Easy, Sid, calm down, don't panic!" Ellie soothed him, "now, what did you say you saw in the woods?" "A Monster!" Sid murmured quietly. "Oh please-" Manny began. "But I really saw it!" Sid pleaded, "honestly Manny, it was huge, the size of the trees, maybe even taller, it had a big, bulky body, and-and it was all black and twisted, it was horrible, just horribble, and when I cried out, it let out a big roar, and it went to kill me!"

They all stared at him blankly. Ellie and San were shooting each other nervous glances, Granny wasn't paying any attension whatsoever, but Manny looked sceptical. "Sid, have been eating the lotus berries again?" he asked with a mixture of confusion and amusement on his face. "What? No! I really, really saw it! Running here, it was like waking up from an nightmare! It was a mean monster, although it could have been a ghost" "OK," Manny said, defeated, "have your adventure with your so-called monster-ghost Mr Supernatural. I sure am the envy of you. Wish I could be fighting it!" Ellie ran after him. "Manny, maybe this isn't such a good time for sarcasm." "Whaddaya mean?" "What if Sid really did see something?" "He didn't!" "Well, okay, lets just say he did. Then we'd have another problem to worry about. And that's the last thing you need, Big Guy!"

She was right, (though Ellie often was, but Manny wasn't about to tell her that!") Just maybe Sid did see something. Maybe it is something to worry about. And maybe, could it be the same thing Diego was worried about?


	3. Chapter 3: But It Really Happened!

**An Ice Age FanFic: A Demon in the Midst**

**In this chapter, Sid makes at least a dozen failed** **attempts to try and convince** **everyone about the truth about the monster in the woods. Will anyone belive him? P.S: This chapter has gone through some edits. **

Chapter 3: But It Really Happened!

The next day was pure torture. Everyone was talking about Sid and his so-called sighting. Half the valley had all agreed he was nuts, (speaking of nuts, that squirrel got his revenge by dropping one on Sid's big toe!) and about how stupid he was. Crash and Eddie were the worst. Once the possums found out about it, they wouldn't leave him alone.

They were the ones that jumped out from behind rocks and shrubs, roaring like maniacs and then scampering off laughing. They were also the ones that would sneak up behind Sid, while he was unaware of their presence and leapt on him growling, causing Sid to almost faint with terror. And then, there were the remarks:

"Hey, Sid! See any monsters today!?"

"Watch ou! Sharp teeth about!"

"Careful Sid, or you'll be eaten alive!"

It got tiring after a few hours, but Sid was still feeling pretty depressed by the afternoon. All he could do was sit on a log and sigh, whilst drawing pictures of himself in the sand with a stick. At least the drawing had a happy face.

At that moment, Peaches came along looking for any left over fruit. She wasn't accompanied by Louis today, for he was underground, at home with his parents. She decided to do some tree swinging, but the thought was put to rest when she saw Sid, sitting forlorn on his log. She instead decided to cheer him up.

"Hey there Uncle Sid!" she said, emerging from the bushes. He looked up. "Oh, hey Peaches!" he said brightening up a bit, he could sure use a smiling face just now. "How are you?"

"How are _you?_ You look terrible Uncle Sid." Sid shrugged his shoulders and let out a mournful sigh. "All the guys are laughing at me." he replied sadly, "they think I'm a total loser!"

Who didn't laugh at Sid? Peaches thought, but that wasn't the kind of thing he needed to hear. "Oh, don't listen to them. They're just immature", she assured them.

"But Crash and Eddie-"

"Don't listen to them either," she said, "especially not them. They pick on anyone. They do it to Louis all the time."

"And, is Louis upset about it?"

Peaches chewed her lip. "Well, he is openly irritated with them about it," but seeing the look on Sid's face she said, "but he doesn't worry. Because he says I'm always there to help him out". "Gosh!" said Sid wiping away a tear, "he's really lucky to have you for a friend!"

Peaches smiled. It was her usual smile. The one that was as sweet as her name. "Well, I'd better go see Mom and Dad," she told him, "you know what Dad's like if I'm gone." She turned to leave. "Oh! And just for the record, Uncle Sid, I don't think you're a total loser."

_Not a total one anyway,_ Manny would say, but luckily she didn't speak with her Dad's words. She smiled again, said good-bye and went off through the forest.

Slowly turning, and snarling, the twisted black shape moved from its nesting place. It slithered like a snake across the forest floor, hunting its next victim. It spotted a tall lumbering shape. Strong enough it seems. Useful. Could maybe use a body like that. Creeping silently, it homed in on the shape like a hunter going in for the kill. It crouched down, ready to pounce...but the shape moved suddenly and turned away back through the trees. It had missed it's cue. As though, furious, the black shape slunk away back ,to its place looking for more food...

Meanwhile, Sid was standing in the middle of the valley calling out to passing animals, "Monster on the loose, monster on the loose!" "Excuse me, sir!" "Not interested! "If I could just get a little moment of your time-!" "I'm not buying anything buddy!"

Animals payed no attention to this crazy wackjob, and his nonsense about some monster on the loose. They had more important things to do with their precious time. Sid tried again and again, but always the same answers. "I told you! Stop following me! I don't wanna hear this anymore!" "Leave me alone, you stinky sloth!" Nothing. Great, thought Sid, now how am I gonna get someone who will belive , or at least listen to me! So far, Peaches and Louis were the only two people that had led a search party into the woods with all three of them. "Here, monster, monster!" called Peaches as she waved a leaf frond around hoping something would come out and get it. "We have a nice juicy snack for you!" called Louis, holding out a mango. Sid was looking for clues as the other two made complete fools of themselves, making growly monster noises to try and lure it in. Eventually, they had to give up, because it was getting really dark. Manny was already annoyed with Sid, for dragging his daughter away from home to go and play some silly game.

"I don't think it's working," sighed Peaches. Sid was looking down again. "We'll try again tomorrow," she said comforting him, but Manny wasn't having any of that.

"I don't want you going out after sunset Peaches," he warned her, it's not safe out there, you know that." "But it's important to Sid Dad!" pleaded Peaches, gesturing with her trunk to the sleeping sloth over on the rock, "he really thinks he saw something. Come on Dad, you know how much finding this thing means to him." "You're not going out after dark!" said Manny sternly, "and that's that." Peaches sighed. It looked like that was the end of their little monster hunt.

Diego prowled around the clump of trees, passing Crash and Eddie who were giving each other piggy-backs and laughing like loons. Crash tumbled backwards and ran right into Diego, who growled at them angrily.

"Watch where you're going you two," he snapped. "Ooh, kitty gettin' mad," Crash said unwisely, and Eddie must have thought so too, because he tried to steer his brother away, because it looked like Diego was about to pounce. "Remind me again why I don't just eat rodents like you," he snarled. "Um, because, we're Ellie's brothers, and anything you say to us goes to her," said Eddie with a devious look on his face.

"Fine! Anyway, I just came here to ask you, have you seen San around here. "Hmm," said the two possums, "Let me see," said Crash, "San, who? San-Juan?" "Ooh! Ooh! I got a better one!" Eddie exclaimed, "San-dra Dee!" The two possums cracked up laughing, as Diego stood there with an unimpressed look on his face. The giggling possums eventually snapped to attention once he roared at them.

"You know who I mean, sand for brains" said the snarling Diego, "now where is she?" "Hey! Don't ask us!" said Crash, "we don't know." "She's probably down by the beach," Eddie said, (ever since the Continental Drift, it had left a wide stretch of coastline where tranquil ocean waves lapped at the shoreline) "Shes always going down there."

"Well, thanks, I guess," Diego muttered and headed toward the beach. The possums waved after him. "OK! Enjoy talking to -San Diego!" they finished together. "Dude!" laughed Crash, " that was the best one yet! That was so totally insane!" The two brothers high-fived. "We are totally in synch bro!" said Eddie putting an arm around Crash.

San sat looking out to sea, at the cerulean blue waves overlapping each other. The cool ocean breeze came in, leaving a breath of fresh air. The icy air hung around the atmosphere as the golden sun set over the gleaming horizon. San remembered the last time she had been away at sea, set out an iceberg, away from home. She was just remembering this, when, something brought her back to her senses.

"Hey!"

She turned round and jumped. It was Diego his fur lit up by the setting sun.

"Oh, hello, it's just you."

"Yeah, it's just me," he said sitting beside her. "So, hey Shira told me all about ho you ant to learn to hunt-"

"Oh, yeah, well, it'll come in handy if we get some new enemies, and it's not like that hasn't happened before."

"Well, I can teach you," Diego said, "I'm an expert at well-"

"Killing things?"

"That's putting it bluntly!"

San chuckled. "We could have a hunting lesson now if you want," Diego suggested. "Really? Cool!" San replied. In the space of an hour, Diego had shown her how to prowl, and to fight and sneak up on something, unnoticed. He also showed her the same technique he used for stopping something from getting away.

"Gotcha!" he said, pinning her to the sandy floor. "Aw, come on!" groaned San. She got up and brushed herself down, "I guess I'm gonna have to work on that one." "You're a fast learner, I'll give you that," Diego complemented her, "you just need to work on a few things." "How did Shira get so good?" San wanted to know. "Dunno," Diego shrugged, "but don't forget, she was a pirate". Speaking of which, um that conversation I had a couple of weeks ago with Sid, was partly true," he said embarrassed, "I don't know what to get Shira as a present. I also wanna take her somewhere really special. But I don't know what I'm gonna do!"

"Hm," said San, "there's some pretty shells down there, maybe she'd like one of those. So Diego and San scoured the beach for a special shell, and eventually after much looking, found it. It was a beautiful white and amber conch shell, with beautiful pearl pink edging. If you put it up to your ear, you could hear the ocean and it's dying breath.

"Do you think she'll like it?" Diego asked anxiously.

"Definitely," said San, "she'll love it!"

"San," he said, "what if I was to say that I'm going away for a while?"

"Well, that's no surprise is it? I mean your always sneaking off."

"Yeah, but I've got to head out for a few days-maybe weeks, I just don't know. But I'll come back, I promise, to everyone, trust me, you'll be sitting out here one day, and you'll see the trees over there moving, and I'll come out of them. Well, bye!" the sabre said at last. "Bye! "Good Night!" called San, as he walked away. She continued to stare out to sea, as the dark night sky clouds began to appear overhead. In the twilight she watched the sea's waves in their rhythmatic patterns, until she became tired, and made her way back to the shelter.


	4. Chapter 4 Diego's Anouncement

An Ice Age FanFic: A Demon in the Midst

In this chapter, Diego has something to say to the herd, and Manny doesn't like it!

Chapter 4: Diego's Announcement

Regarding yesterday's events, Sid was far too tired and really couldn't be bothered trying to convince everybody-oh well-it wasn't like anyone would listen anyway, he thought to himself. Over the next few hours, San felt that a soft breeze was in the air, whipping her chin-length brown hair and she could see the trees blowing in the distance. She decided she better head off, back to the herd. If Sid really was right, (and she doubted that he was) that there really was a monster in the forest, she didn't want to be around when it came looking for food. She adjusted the fur cape hanging from her back, and walked through the trees. She stopped suddenly at the edge of a clearing. Something was walking up and down, back and forth across a feild of golden flowers, although pondering something. Hiding behind a tree, San watched from a safe distance the creature that was moving up and down the clearing, then relised it was Diego. He seemed to be in quite a state, pacing up and down with a troubled look on his face-and in his eyes.

San knew she had to report this back to Manny, he was after all, the one who kept notiing Diego sneaking off all the time. But surelyno one would sneak off into the forest just to pace and worry. San made sure their were no twigs or leaves around that she might step on that would give her away, and then covered the area and herself in mud to cover her scent. She slowly snuck back through the woods, not seeing the figure of Diego turn into the twisted, black shape behind her...

The strangest thing about it all, was that when she returned to the valley, Diego was already there. Had he discovered her? Had he caught up? Even so, it was impossible for him to arrived back before she did.

The whole valley was crowded around him, including the herd, all listening to him. "There is something I have to say", he said, clearing his throat. San stood to join them beside Ellie and Shira. Everyone watched him with intent eyes and wistful expressions. "I'm leaving," he said finnally. There was a collective gasp from the crowd and faint murmurs of "Leaving? What? How can this be?" "It's just for a few days," Diego assured them all,"i'll only be gone for a short while." "Leaving?" Ellie repeated. "Why didn't you tell us this before!?" Manny shouted angrily. "I was going to!" said Diego, trying to plead his case, "I just didn't want to worry you!"

"What garbage!" yelled Manny, "you worriedus even more, you should have told us this weeks ago! How long have you been keeping this a secret?!"

"I don't know, a few months maybe?"

"A FEW MONTHES!?"

"Uh, now Manny, there's no need to get upset," said Ellie sternly, "yes this is short notice, but I'm sure Diego has a good, reasonable explanation-!"

"He had better have," spat Manny furiously.

There was an awkward silence after that. Sid was biting his nails, the possums looked like they were wishing that the ground would swallow them up, San just stood there looking at the floor, uncomfortably. Shira looked as if she might cry. She didn't of course. She was a former pirate. She was tough. But that didn't stop the way she was feeling inside. Her partner was leaving? Again? Why? What was going on? She was struggling to find the answers to all these questions. Peaches nodded at Louis, who turned to Ethan, Peaches' crush who nodded at Steffe, Meghan and the otherteenage mammoths. They looked liked they wanted to be anywhere else than here, and they all headed off in the seperate direction. Most of the other mammals and birds did the same, not so keen on watching a fight that was just between two people. The rest where just left there, watching them yell at each other.

"Why were you keeping this to yourelf!?" Manny bellowed, "didn't you know we were all concerned about you?"

"I was just nervous about telling you that's all!" Diego started yelling back, "even sabres get scared or nervous sometimes you know!"

"Is there any more secrets you have? Anything else we should know about you?"

"Like that secret place you went today?" San blurted. They all stared at her. She suddenly relised what she'd said. Whoops! she thought sadly, I've betrayed him. Why didn't I just keep it a secret?

"Secret place?" Manny asked confused, then he turned on Diego, "What does she mean, "secret place"."

"What are you talking about?" he said turning to San, he spoke gently, but San couldn't hide that her eyes were full of guilt. "In the forest," San told him, "I thought-"

"Forest? I wasn't in the forest today," he told her. "But, but I thought I saw you-in the clearing you-" "I haven't left the valley today San," he said, "you're telling me you saw another sabre?" "Yes, I mean, no, I mean-oh, I don't know, maybe," San sighed helplssly. "Great! More secrets. Fine," he said looking at Diego with eyes full of hate he didn't mean, "Go Sabre! Get out of here! Just get out of here and Never Come Back!"

"Manny-!"

"No, Ellie, I've had just about enough of this! First it's monsters in the woods, all Diego's disappearences, and now we've got some other predetor on the loose? Well I can't take it! Just go!"

Diego's heart sank. His ears bent down, and his whiskers drooped. He looked helplessly back at them, at Shira. She was on the verge of tears that she had no failed to keep back. Manny didn't mean any of this. But it was too late now. He couldn't take it back. Diego cast one more sorry look at them over his shoulder.

"GO!"

And with that, Diego slunk away, into the shadows, leaving the horrified faces of the herd and Manny's darkened one.

If any of them had been able to see his face, then they would have seen the silent tears that streamed down them now.


	5. Chapter 5: Shira's Hope

**An Ice Age FanFic: A Demon in the Midst **

**This chapter is mostly about Shira, and how she feels about all of this, since Diego has departed from them. Note: This chapter contains hardly any diolouge, hope you will still enjoy! :) **

**Chapter 5: Shira's Hope **

After Diego had left, an uncomfortable silence hung over everyone. It was as if a spell had been cast, where no one would talk to each other, and because of this sudden lack of interaction, this caused Sid to give up his monster hunt, and everybody forgot to tease him about his so-called monster pet. Crash and Eddie, the possums never played around anymore and Ellie and Peaches were constantly trying to comfort Manny all the time, ecause they knew he felt terrible.

Shira was probably the most affected by all of this. Diego's abcense had had quite a big impact on her. For she was alone. She had no one to talk to, or chase with, and every time she awoke, she always half-expected to see Diego lying next to her. She would leave the little sheltered cave they all slept in, and would wonder down to the sparkly blue lake. She used to go there with Diego often, and they would sit, and chat and gaze up at the moon, and dip one paw in the water to see if they could catch any fish, (sabres are not exactly water-creatures, but because Shira had spent most of her time at sea, and Diego had gotten over his fear of water years ago, the, two sat at the rivers bank hoping at least catch something. Sometimes they were not, but either way it was an enjoyable pass-time. Shira wondered, if Diego was maybe on a hunt now, out on his travels. She tried to be mad at Manny for driving the one she loved out, but for some reason she couldn't. She knew he didn't mean it, but it was too late now. He couldn't take it back. She despretely wanted Diego to come back, but she knew what would happen if he did. There would be another row, and Shira wasn't ready for another one of those. Besides, she wasn't really prepared for him to come back, and she doubted he would anytime soon. Maybe he was happy in his new life, chasing it everday till the sun went down. He didn't need her. _But I need him, _she thought to herself sadly.

San was miserable too. She would sit near the beach, looking over at the large forest of trees. She remembered what Diego had said to her, _" one of these days, you'll look out to those big trees over there, and I'll be coming out of them." _Would that still be the case? San was angry at herself, she felt so stupid, why hadn't she just kept her big mouth shut?! Diego had taught her how to hunt like a proper sabre, and this was how she repaid him. By opening her trap at the worst possible moment. She saw Shira wonder off down to the lake every day of the week now, but still avoided talking to her for any reason, so as not to face yet another uncomfortable silence. She wasn't quite so sure why she was missing Diego so much. Maybe it was because she ha grown up with wolves for most of her life that she felt a kind of affinity with the sabres. She was incredibly worried about Shira, who sat by the lake and said nothing.

Manny was the one who stayed in the cave most of the time. He couldn't understand it, Diego had been a part of the herd for years, without ever really leaving for as no good reason to keep so many secrets in their family. Manny knew who he blamed though. He blamed himself, for Diego's sudden departure. All though years he had spent fighting along side with his sabre tooth-tiger friend, was now all just decades gone passed.

"He'll be back," Ellie said softly to him nearly every day now, "he left before right?"

"But he came back didn't he?" Peaches added, "Uncle Diego would never leave forever!"

"I know what I said!" Manny, said so sternly he almost shouted it. Then his tone suddenly softened, and he said, "and I can't fix it now. Nor ever again".

Sid started walking down to the riverbank to see if he could comfort her, but Shira just sat there in a motionless state, that would make even the toughest animal cry. Clouds raised in her sapphire eyes, and the rain came down. Crying. Weeping softly every night until nobody could bare it any longer. She would often just sleep there now, instead of joining them in their usual camp. She grew cold, not just as her body tempreture from being to near the cold lake at night, and not the roaring fire she usually slept next to, but as a person as well. She was the one who angrily shouted at Sid, to leave her alone, and to stop bugging her, which particulary shocked him. _Everyone's shouting these days, _thought Sid, _and it's usually at me! _he thought with an unhappy look on his face. _Even Peaches and Louis have given up on this whole monster-hunt. _ Sitting with San near the beach didn't help either, because she mostly just yelled at him to get lost as well.

What on earth was wrong with everyone? It was as though they had been possesed by an angry force or something. That's when a horrid thought struck him. The monster he had seen in the forest! What if it was here? Disguised as one of his friends, one of the herd-members!? He had to find out!

One night, he snuck up on San while she was sitting on her sea-rock, and pounced, grabbing her by the throat. San yelped. "AH! Ow! Sid?! What are you-OUCH!" she screamed as he tightened his grip. "Ya don't fool me, monster!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, "now, release San, or I'll beat you out! You-you heard me!" he added, shaking a little. He couldn't beat anything for toffee, but he was determined to end this by using what he thought was a perfect exorcism.

"Sid, what _are_ you talking about!" shouted the furious San, who by now was holding her nose, "geez, let go of me, you stink!" Sid eventually released his grip, and stepped back. "So, your not the," (he gulped), "monster, then", he whimpered in a voice, not so much as a squeak.

Long story short, that conversation ended with San chasing a very terrified Sid up the beach, with her dagger clutched in her hand. Not that she'd ever hurt the sloth, (although at times she was tempted to!) but it was just to scare him off. He may have nearly jumped out of his skin, as he ran up to the far end of the beach, shrieking in terror and running as fast as his little sloth legs would carry him.

Meanwhile, Shira, who had heard most of the commotion going down on the beach with San chasing Sid, had been staring into the rockpools for at least an hour now. Normally seeing or hearing San frighten Sid half to death would have made her burst out laughing. It was almost as hilarious as when Diego did it. But even now it appeared that only the slightest thing reminded her of him. The way the tide rushed to the shore reminded her of how fast he was when hunting, the orange glow on the horizon, the melodic voices of the birds in the distance. Right now, staring out to sea from the lake, all she could do, was sit, and wait, and hope, that he would back to her soon.

That night, Sid returned to the cave, and jumped in alarm when he saw San was already there. He slowly edged his way around her to his special sleeping rock, where Granny was already there, snoring loudly. He made sure he was a good distance from San, and then proceeded to shift himself around on the rock in order to get comfy. He warned San that he was still gonna stay wide awake. "So, that you don't try any funny bussnius with that _weapon _of yours!" he said pointing to her dagger, that was tucked into the bottom of her purple pencil skirt. In no time at all though, he was asleep next to Granny as well, and snoring even louder than she was.

San chuckled and curled up close to the fire, Sid had made. She thought of Shira and how she was feeling. And hoped that she wouldn't stay down by the lake too long. She could catch a chill, or worse, pnuemonia. She closed her eyes. Then she had a thought that just about made her heart judder to a halt.

_What if Shira decides that she just can't take itany more and just flings herself into the lake?! _


	6. Chapter 6: The Mysterious Dream

**An Ice Age FanFic: A Demon in the Midst **

**Wow! I can't belive I'm on Chapter 6 already, that was fast! In this one, we see a little bit more life come back into the valley, but that doesn't mean that evil isn't still lurking right around the corner. Danger appears to have found them at last. I hope you don't find it a bit boring. I've never really written from the teenage mammoths point of view before. Please enjoy! :) **

Chapter 6: The Mysterious Dream

It was the first day of spring. It was definetly in the air, but no one appeared to be in a particulary springy mood. All the flowers had bloomed for nothing it seemed. On this morning, Peaches had gotten up early, much to the confusion of her father to go and meet Ethan in the woods. He was incredibly reluctent to of course, but eventually just sighed and let her go. She awoke to the sounds of the sparrows singing overhead and that wide stretch of pink in the sky that let her know that dawn was just breaking. She remembered the startling dream she had had, but the memory of it slipped away like soap as she tried to think about it.

She crept over to the edge of the forest, through the trees and soon spotted the blonde haired mammoth, along with Steffie, Katie and Meghan. Louis was riding on Ethan's back and waving. "Ethan! Louis! Hi!" grinned Peaches emerging from the trees. "Yo, Peach!" laughed Ethan as she came toward them. Louis gave a secret stern look. He objected to his crush being called "Peach", or any other stupid teenage nickname. He on the other hand, though Peaches the most prettiest name in the whole wide world, and thought that it shouldn't be changed.

"H-hiiii!" Peaches said nervously, her knees almost giving way. She was sure she was about to melt, Ethan was able to do that to any girl, he was so hot! The strong, good-looking mammoth, came over to greet her. "Heeeeeeyy, girl," said Steffie in her usual tone, "you look stresssed!"

"Yeah, you look tired!" Meghan commented. "Well, I just woke up," Peaches said nervously, twiddling a lock of soft, light-brown hair. "Well, we was just about to head off to the Falls," said Katie, gesturing with her trunk through a small clump of trees. Peaches cringed. She remembered the last time she had tried to sneak off to the Falls, and Manny and the possums had followed her. Total embarassment. Louis was just about to open his mouth to tell Meghan that it was "were", not "was", but then Ethan stopped him. "Wait, guys," said Ethan in that suave tone of voice. "Don't forget why we called Peaches here in the first place." The mammoth girls all looked blank. "Oooooohhh! That's right!" said Steffie, "girl, we seen something straaaaange, going on." Louis was about to open his mouth again, to correct Steffie of her grammer, when another thing stopped him.

"There's something in going on in the woods," said Meghan, "now, not to say we ain't seen it or nothing, but we're sure that it is here."

"Yeah, somethin' frrreaky is goin' on here!" said Katie, "and it's making my hair frizzy! I hate it!"

"Yeah, it's sooo-weird!" Steffie agreed, "and that little weirdo sloth friend you chill with apparently saw something strange goin' on in these parts of the woods!"

"Is there anything, you think you can help us with?" asked Ethan, a little anxiously. Peaches felt the glee building up inside of her. "S-sure!" she stammered, grinning rather foolishly. She then composed herself and cleared her throat. "Yes, Ethan." she said, really sensibly, "that would be an enjoyable activity to do!" she finished, even though something at the back of her head had been screaming, _"Date, date, date!" _

"OK, then lets go!" said Ethan, "I'll lead the way to the Falls, that was where we last saw something weird happening."

"Whoo-hooh! Time to chillax and walk!" laughed Steffie, twirling a lock of her hair. Louis opened his mouth again, but in the end, just gave up. It was impossible to try and knock some sense into any of these other mammoths Peaches called her "friends", so instead he just said to her, "Peaches, if we do, ind the monster, and I'm just saying, if, should we be afraid? I mean, what's gonna happen if it shows up?" "It won't," Peaches reassured him, "you know what Sid's like, he probably just imagined and or exaggerated the whole thing. I'm sure there isn't really a monster out here-or anything for that matter!" They didn't see the wisted black shape, closely, watching them.

Daylight was just breaking, spilling rays of golden sunlight into the cave. Yet no one had stirred, and were still all sleeping peacefully. In Diego's mind however, it was still dark.

_He was running, through the trees, but he didn't know why. He could feel his heart pounding inside his chest, that racing, rhymatic sound, like that of a beating drum. He saw Manny, and San. They were there calling to him. Manny appeared at Diego's let still running. "Listen, Diego," he said, his voice low and serious, "you have to go! You have to get out of here now!" All of a sudden, San appeared at his right, with fear in her brown eyes. " You must go Diego! You must go now! Or else you'll get hurt!" They both sounded incredibly worried, but, why? More shapes manifested themelves into his loved ones. Sid was now behind San, panting and trying to keep up. "I told you Diego, something bad is going to happen, if you don't get out of here!" Ellie, and the possums appeared shouting the excat same thing, "Go, come on what are you waiting for? You have to go now!" Shira soon appeared before him, Granny at her side. "Why Diego?" she was saying, "Why did you leave me?!" "None of this would have happened if _he_ hadn'nt left", said Granny, spitefully, "you're a traitor sabre!" The words echoed in his head, as he past Peaches and Louis, and they were both chanting it too, "Traiter, Traiter!" _

_Suddenly, a whole host of voices joined together in his head. They were all long, echoic voices, and Diego was sure he recognised some of them but he couldn't put his paw on it just who they belonged to. _

_"Go, Diego! Now!" _

_"You are in danger Diego!" _

_"Grave danger!" _

_And then, suddenly there was a scream, a flash of something red, and then utter blackness. _

Diego awoke from where he lay, right on the other side of the valley, panting and sweating. It had been some sort of nightmare. But he wasn't quite sure what it meant. Grave danger? Whatever it was, it couldn't be good.

Back at the valley, Manny had woken up at the exact same time as Diego, also startled. He turned to see Ellie, and San who was rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. He was sure he had heard her voice, somewhere in the dream he had just had. He wondered if he should ask them, but he shook himself awake and then instead got up to go outside into the cold, morning air.

Ellie followed him out. "Manny? You okay?" she asked gently.

"I'm fine," sighed Manny, "I just had a horrible nightmare."

"Really? Tell me about it!"

"Oh, it's nothing, it's just. It was about Diego. I was shouting something at him."

Ellie gave him a sympathetic look. She must have thought he meant the incident weeks before. Manny must have relised this too, because he saw the look on her face, and was about to explain, when he just decided that it would be easier to not go through the dreaded sequence again. What was the dream about? All he remembered was Diego running and San screaming. And a few other assorted voices. He shook the thought off, and just said, "come on, let's go find Peaches." As they headed for the forest, Ellie puzzuled over what Manny had just told her in her mind. _You know, I had a nightmare too, _she wanted to tell him,_ but I just can't think what about... _

From her place in the cave, San, sat up and her blurred vision came into view. She was very surprised to see that she had woken up in the cave, and not the forest for some reason. But why would she be in the forest? She always slept in the cave. Maybe it was that gruesome dream she'd had last night, full of shouting and screams and yelps. What _had_ she been dreaming about. It was the most bizzare, deranged dream that she had ever had her life. Diego was in it, and he looked scared, in distress. Shira was there, but just faintly. The question she had asked herself last night had disturbed her so much, that for the rest of the night, it had sent shivers down her spine. Just the thought of Shira jumping into the lake, the cold, icy water rising around her body, made her both terrified and uneasy at the same time. She wanted no harm to come to anybody, but with what was going on just now, it seemed like that wasn't going to be easy.

Meanwile at the Falls, it turned out Steffie and her friends had tricked Peaches and Louis about their Paranormal Sighting, just so they could play on the mud-slide.

"Oh, come on, girl!" said Steffie.

"Yeah, have some fun!" Meghan added.

"Fun?! But you said that you really did see something!" said Peaches, angrily.

"We did," Katie replied, "we just wanted to you to come here, with us, to hang out!"

"I don't understand," snapped Louis, "what excatly did you see?" "Oh, some mystical big dark blob," said Steffie, "it definetly headed here, out into the woods." "But we thought you were lying," Peaches sighed exasperated. "Nah, we just wanna have fun! Right girls?" The two other girl mammoths giggled. Peaches sighed. "Fine, if you four just wanted an excuse to come here-then I'm leaving."

"Hey, Peach, don't be like that, lighten up!" called Ethan.

"Don't call her that!" Louis said, turning around in anger.

"Hey, wait guys, we was only teasing! Right girls?"

Steffie, Meghan and Katie all glanced nonchalontly to the side. "Um, yeah. Just teasing," said Meghan, walking away. Peaches glared at Ethan over her shoulder. She did like him quite a bit, but he could be a real pain sometimes. Louis saw this in her face, and felt extremly happy. He got on with Ethan a little bit, but most of the time, he was the one who never really treated Peaches with much respect. Satisfied with what had just happened, the molehog pulled a face at Ethan, and started talking to Peaches. "He really needs to learn some manners, said Louis through gritted teeth, "don't you think, Peaches?" "Hm-oh! Yeah, I see what you mean," Peaches said sadly. Through the undergrowth, there was a rustling sound that made them all stop dead in their tracks. Louis squealead, and tried to hide behind Peaches, but the next time the bushes moved, they saw it was only Manny and Ellie. Peaches felt herself breath a sigh of relif-she didn't know what she had expecting.

"There you are!" said Manny, also breathing a sigh of relif, "we were really starting to worry."

"Is everything OK?" Ellie added.

"Mom! Dad! Yeah, everything's fine, why'd you ask?"

"Because you left early this morning," said Ellie, "and you're back earlier then usual."

"Well-uh," Louis began rather guiltily, "we were-um-".

"Did something happen between you and this boy?" asked Ellie concerned.

"Did you have a fight?" asked Manny hopefully, but Ellie just nudged him and gave him a look. "Come on sweetie! Time to head back," she said beconing her. "Okay," said Peaches, not excatly sad or embarrassed about leaving so soon. In fact she was quite glad her parents had stopped by to take her home. "Climb aboard, Louis", she said putting him onto her back, as she walked with her parents back to the area of their cave.

Shira sleepily opened one eye. It was morning, she thought. It must be, the sun was casting a brilliant yellow glow on the horizon. Gleaming rays shot in her direction, startling her. She got up, and stretched, but never left her place. She thought about what a strange dream she had just had. Screams. Shouts. And of course Diego was there too. That was really the first thing she remembered about her dream. Why did she look so lost and forlorn when she had seen him? Almost disapointed. Was there a reason for this? Whatever was going on, it only just lead to more trouble. The freezing cold water of the lake rose above her paws. She must have fallen in slightly in the middle of the night. Or was she pushed? Whatever it could be, she just shook the thought off, and proceeded to lie her head down onto her wet paws. The cryatal blue water of the lake sparkled and shone in the morning sunlight. The dew on the leaves of the pondweed plant glistened brightly before her eyes. All she wanteto do was to go back to sleep, so that she could dream the dream again, and make some sense of it. But now she was awake, she just decided, to stretch, and then see if there was any fish around to eat.

Back at the cave, he mammoths arrived to see San already up. She was stamping out the embers of last night's fire, when she saw the three of them come her way.

"Oh! Hi guys!"

"Hey, San!" called Manny.

"I didn't hear you get up this morning. It's a lovely day."

"It is!" smiled Ellie, "you haven't seen my brothers at all today have you?"

No sooner had she said this, Crash and Eddie came racing towads them out of the cave like little black and white stripy torpedos and hopped onto each of Ellie's tusks.

"Ellie! Ellie! Ellie!" they were screaming.

"What is is boys? Are you okay?" she asked worriedly.

"In-the- in the woods-we -weee-" Crash panted, unable toget the words out.

"We saw it!" Eddie said for him.

"Saw what?" asked Ellie.

The two brothers looked at each other for a momement, then threw back their heads and then bellowed:

"THE MONSTER!"

Manny and Ellie looked at each other with both alarm and panic in their faces. Another sighting? So Sid wasn't making it up. Could it be? Was this so-called monster real? All of a sudden, a loud, ear-splitting scream came from inside the cave, and Sid came running out. He was the lazy one who always slept in, and had just woken up. He was closely followed by Granny who was shaking her stick at him angrily. "Sydney, for the last time, stop yellin' out in your sleep. I've had just about enough of these night-terrors of yours."

"SID!" Everyone came rushing over to the horrified sloth, the exact expression on his face for when he had seen the thing in the woods all those weeks before. "Sid, what's wrong?!" gasped a bewildered Ellie. "I saw it-in my, sleep!" Sid whimpered. "Oh, quit yer whinin' you big baby," scolded Granny, "it was only a dream." "Sid! You saw it too!" said Crash. "Dude!" gasped Eddie, "we had that same dream last night with a monster in it!"

That was when the commotion started. Everybody started getting hysterical, as it turned out that everybody's dream seemed to involve a frightening source. "Everybody inside!" Ellie ordered. Manny helped her to lead all of them into the cave. Who was he to argue, this was just becoming terrifying! Once everyone was inside, Ellie asked evryone to explain exactly what they saw in the dream. But of course, every time, it was always the same answer. Diego, or one of the members of the herd. Screaming. Voices. Trauma. And of course the unidentifiable black shape, engulfing them all. San leant up againest a wall, her heart thudding. This was just too much. And that's when she decided it. Tomorrow morning, she was going to head out, and get to the bottom of this unsolved mystery.


	7. Chapter 7: Terror Takes Hold

**An Ice Age FanFic: A Demon in the Midst**

**In this chapter, San sets out to find out what's going on, with Sid tagging along. And that's when the unthinkable happens and the demon shows itself full force-in the form of a long-gone but not entirely forgotten friend. Difficult to take all in, they must run for their lives along with the rest of the herd if they don't want to become demons. Will they make it to a safe place in time? **

Chapter 7: Terror Takes Hold

She left them all sleeping. In broad daylight the trees of the forest were highlighted in gold from the rising sun. For the rest of yesterday, San had been plotting about how to make her way out of the cave without waking anyone-so far she'd succeeded. She checked in the pocket of her skirt to see if she had brought her dagger. Luckily, there it was. Turning the smooth white clay, ceramic over and over in her hands at least gave her some comfort that she was strongly armed. The spring air was slightly chilly, so she wrapped her wolf pelt cape tighter around her shoulders. She could feel the soft white fur encaseing her in a warm embrace like that of Moro, her wolf mother used to give her before she'd died. Killed by the forest spirit, after the humans had invaded their land while Manny, Sid and Diego were trying to keep them from the human baby boy, Roshan. Although San no longer possesed any feelings of hatred for the humans, she wasn't exactly one to welcome one with open arms into her territory. Well, Manny's really. At least she wasn't going to be seeing any, since their settlement had moved further east. Anyway, she wasn't out here to look for humans, she was out here to hunt down the supposed beast that lurked in the woods, and that may or may not be the cause of their crazy dreams, or rather, hellish nightmare.

Slowly, she stepped through into the clearing, near the one where she had seen Diego before, she reminded herself, guiltily. The golden flowers that grew in the feild he had paced along were now a constant reminder of her betrayal. The day she didn't hold her tounge. She couldn't even figure out what they were meant to be from here-some form of aconitum, maybe. Buttercups? Whatever they were, she couldn't be bothered to find out right at the momement. Instead, she worked on finding her way through the forest. She was still not used to using her human instincts, so instead focused on her sense of smell. She knew which way to go in the forest, she'd lived there for years and years after all. She sniffed the air, inhaling every last scent of pine needle, and dirt in every single direction. In the north, the smell of trees. South, the salty spray coming in from the sea. The east, the smell of human beings roasting their hunted rabbits on a spit above a roaring fire-and from the west-a pungeunt, horrid smell, that hit her nostrils without any warning. She screwed up her face in disgust. It smelt-evil, that was the best possible way to describe it. Even worse than Sid, before he had a bath! She knew this must be this monster was hiding.

She walked on, through the trees, as she sensed the smell getting stronger and stronger. Almost as if it were trying to ensnare her senses, hide her instincts and sense of smell. And whatever it was, it sure was working. She decided she'd keep on going, even though she felt sick. Ugh, what is this? she thought. Suddenly, she stopped. The rustling sound. It had started up again. And it was coming from right behind her!

Without a second thought, she grabbed her dagger from her skirt pocket, and pointed it threatningly at the bush. "Who's there!?" she demanded, lunging it forward slightly, "I mean it! Show yourself!" The bushes and shrubbery parted-and there was Sid, sweating and looking as though he had just run a marathon.

"Sid!"

"Surprise!" the sloth said, a little nervously, because San didn't look like she was in the mood to play games.

"What are you doing here? You should be back at camp with the others!" A thought struck her. "Wait! Did you follow me here!"

"Yes. No, well-I-no of course I didn't follow you! I am insulted! I was just in the neighbourhood, and well, I-"

"Sid-"

"OK, I followed you, I followed you! But, but I came to warn you! You shouldn't be out here! If Manny found out he'd blow a fuse! Well at least now that I'm here, can I come with you?"

"What!? No, Sid! What do you think your playing at?!

"But-"

"No, not a chance, go back to the cave!"

"But, Manny will give you-_us, both_-a chewing out if he ever finds out!"

"Well, I can take care of myself!" San said indignantly. She turned round with one last "goodbye!" and then stomped off, but Sid shrieked and climbed onto her. "Don't leave me here!" he squealed, "the monster'll get me!" "Oh, get off me!" said San, angrily pulling him off, "there is no monster, Granny's right, you are a big baby!"

"Then why are you out here, then?"

"Because I just wanted to check something out, that's all."

Sid gave her knowing smile that made her want to punch him in the face to get rid of it. "Admit it," he said, "you're worried aren't you?"

"What!? No! Just concerned."

"Yeeeaah, right!"

"I'm serious Sid! I smelt something weird going on in the west, and I don't like it, now are you coming with, or not?"

Sid shuffled uncomfortably a moment, and then said, as sternly as he could, "N-no! No, San, I'm going back to tell the others, and then you'll be in big trouble! I'm not coming with you to the West, because we'll probably get eaten alive. I don't care that we don't find anything, I'm staying right here!" he said, firmly, folding his arms.

San smirked. She knew a way of getting round to the sloth. "Okay,um yeah, so here's a plan."

"OK, I'm listening."

"How about I go looking for the monster-"

"Yes?"

"And then you stay here-"

"OK".

"And be eaten by wolves and bears in the forest!"

"Yeah!"

"Does that sound like a plan to you, Sid?"

"Yeah! That's sounds like a plan to me, yep it sure-WHAT!?"

"Well, bye!" called San over her shoulder. "Uh, no wait, San! On second thought, I think I'd rather end up bein an imaginary side-dish, than a real-life predator side-dish!"

They wondered in silence for a couple of minutes, which all too quickly turned into hours. The sun was high up in the sky by the time they eventually talked again. "I'm bored!" said Sid. "Too bad," said San. "Let's play a game-"

"NO, Sid!"

"I spy, with my little eye, something-OH GEEZ!"

Sid backed away frightened as San wheeled around suddenly and pointed her dagger at him-it's leather covering on of course. "Calm down, the case isn't even off, scardey-sloth!" They walked on through more woodland, near a marsh, in which flooded have the ground, forcing them to stick to the trail, with Sid breathing rapidly down San's neck. "Will you quit that!" she snapped. "I can't help it!" Sid snapped back, "I always hyperventilate in situations like this!" "Well, you can help it for one minute, I think I've just caught a whiff of something!" "Oh, I hate being out here in the cold, instead of that nice warm cave I just left, sniffing out stinky stuff the air." Sid could talk. He couldn't even smell danger a mile away. "Well, something's up here, it's all over the air," said San.

"So, maybe your just smelling things," Sid shrugged.

_Smelling things? Twit! She had been tracking things for years, and her nose hadn't failed her once. She knew there was something out there. _

"Sid, if I had a human-coin for every time I had to save your butt, I'd be ri-"

The two of them were cut off by a low sound coming from far away. Except this time, it wasn't a rustling. It was a growl. The two of them, slightly put off by this, both stopped, and just stood, in the middle of a sort of, pathway.

"San, please tell me that was your stomach rumbling!"

"Yeah, that's right," said San sarcasticly, "my stomach makes low, growling noises, and wants to eat you!" Sid gulped. "Is it too late to turn back?"

"Yes, of course it is! Now stop being stupid!" San snapped.

"But I have to go to the bathroom!" Sid moaned.

"Well, then, you should have gone before we came!"

"I didn't know I was going to be in the woods at this early time!"

"It's afternoon, Sid!"

"And to me that's very early!"

The two stood there bickering for twenty minutes or so, but eventually San said, "Come on, keep moving. We're bound to find at least something." But no sooner had they turned to go, both of them spotted a very peculier tree. It lead back to the start of the valley. San was sure she'd seen it somewhere, but wuldn't be surprised if it turned out she didn't. In fact if it didn't have a huge gaping gash on it, she would have hardly even noticed it at all, had she been out srolling, and would have walked right past the thing. They were huge, like tears in paper only worse. The tree had been cut deep by something, but what? Claws? Talons? Or something else? She bent down to examine the marks in the tree, and then suddenly, Sid said, "Hey! I know this tree! This was the one I saw before I got attacked by the monster!" San stopped. "Wait, you mean, this is where you last saw it?"

She started shaking him then, asking him question after question of things he couldn't possibly answer.

"Where was it?"

"Did it leave any tracks?"

"If so, what shape were they?"

"Stop it! Don't ask me! I wasn't bothering about checking it's tracks, I was too busy running for my life and screaming, "AAAARRRGGGHHH!" " San immediatly clamped a hand to his mouth, to stop him. _"Ssshhh!_ Be quiet you fool! Do you want us to be discovered? Now, point to where it was." "To where what was?" "I don't know, just stand where you think the monster was standing when you first saw it." Sid stood at least three or four yards from the tree with "wounds" on it. "Uh, well, about here I guess." Now San was worried. _That's not far,_ she whispered to herself. If the monster was right under their noses, they had to be extra careful if this really was the place where the monster was hiding, "Oh this is no use!" she blurted.

That's when out of the corner of her eye, San saw something from behind a bush. She went over to investigate it. Once she had moved the shrubbery aside, and found a clue! About eight or so, footprints had been imprinted on the forest floor among a cluster of dead leaves. "Sid. _Sid! _Come and look at this." Sid shrieked and almost fainted when he saw the large footprints in the sand. Trouble was, they were pawprints. Big circle in the middle, four smaller circles around the top.

"But this creature had these spider-legs!" said Sid.

"Yes, but -Eugh!" said San, stepping back suddenly.

"What's wrong?"

San had collapsed to the floor of the forest, gasping, and gagging and wretching. "UGGHHH! What_ is _that smell!?" It had hit so hard, the full blast from it had knocked her to the ground, where she crouched with her legs crossed, holding her nose. "It's not me," said Sid, "I don't even," he sniffed the air, and was soon clutching his nose too. "Ohhh, yyuuuck! Ohh, man that's foul!" After at least three minutesof them clutching their noses and howling with pain, the smell went as quickly as it had come, and hit them in the face. "I _told_ you I smelt something!" San said at last, getting up. "Yeah, something weird, not that!" said Sid. He squinted. "It's coming from the east-no, WEST!" The west. So San knew she wasn't wrong, her nose hadn't decieved her. "Anyway," said Sid, "what about these pawprints? Like I said, the monster had spider-legs." "So, in that case," said San, "who or what made these? Weird huh, don't you think Sid? Sid-"

Sid had frozen up completely, and was pointing at something behind her, his face white with shock. They turned around-and saw something that made them both stop dead.

Behind them, was something both completely nightmarish and terrifying. In front of them, teeth bared, was a monstrous creature. It had an animal body, with powerful, muscular legs, and extremly long, sharp canines, that could easily rip flesh within a minute. But the most startling and terrifying thing about this, this monster, was that the half of it's body was covered in black and red bloodly tendrils, that seemed to be seizing hold of the creature. Brownish, black sludge, oozed out of them, and stained the forest floor, burning like acid when it hit the ground. San had seen this before, it wasn't a monster. It was a demon. And this was an act of possesion. Those bits of sludge were toxic, and if they touched you, you were as good as dead. If they touched you, the demon would seep in to your blood and veins and infect you, like a virus. But that wasn't what bothered her about this animal that it had taken over. Sid was standing there, his chest moving in and out, but the rest of him didn't move an inch.

Terror seized their hearts. Within an instant, they were almost sure they saw their lives flash before their very eyes.

"That things ghastly!" he exclaimed, "it's horrible, it's evil, it's- it's-"

"It's Diego," whispered San.

There was an awkward silence until it was broken by the demon's roar. This time it sent them both running. They had to get out of here. They had to get out of these woods, right now! There was a long dusty slope that headed down to the valley, and San and Sid were going to stop at nothing to get there. San didn't even want to look back, but unfortunetly, Sid did, and it was coming up at full speed from behind them, it's legs moving at an incredibly fast pace. "Diego? What?" Sid was confused. "Why didn't you tell me?!" "I didn't know until just now!" San protested, "but I don't understand, don't you recognise him? His body, the way he moved, and I definetly saw some orange fur under there!" "So the monster is Diego?" "It's not a monster, it's a demon! And it's not Diego that's the monster, you could say the demon-monster is inside Diego, it's a curse okay, just don't speak about it until after we've reached safety!"

"Demon?"

"Look, we can't discuss this now, okay, I'll tell you when we get to the valley." Sid gave a long and fearful gulp, "that is, if we make it back to the valley!"

"Oh, don't talk like that, come on, let's just keep running!" Sid tried to keep up, looking round as he did so, and nearly tripped. "Ah, it's gaining, it's gaining!" "Don't let it touch you!" San warned, or else you'll end up like that!" she finished, pointing at Diego. She couldn't belive this had happened, especialy to Diego. But now was not the time for that now, she had to keep going, she and Sid have got to keep going. Must...keep...running...

They moved again near a clump of trees and there was the it was, the valley, with the animals and the children, and all of their friends. And then something else occured to her.

Diego's curse is highly contagious!

"Quick, Sid we've got to get all of these animals out of the valley! Run!" she started calling, "Run! Run! Run!" She looked below her, and there was Manny, with Ellie and the two possums. He was staring at her, Sid and the demonic, black shape chasing them. She called for him to run, she screamed until her voice was hoarse, but yet he wouldn't move.

"RUN!" San shouted.


	8. Chapter 8: When A SlingShot Stunt Goes H

**An Ice Age FanFic: A Demon in the Midst **

**Sorry to keep you all waiting! This chapter is a little strange. See, it starts an hour before San and Sid saw Diego and ran to the valley, with him chasing them. While they are out hunting "it" in the forest, Manny and Ellie are helping Crash and Eddie with a plan to that is surely going to fail. Then it all connects up to the point where San and Sid find their way back to the valley warning everyone to run. I hope this chapter isn't too confusing for you. Remember to review to tell me what you think. :) **

Chapter 8: When A SlingShot Stunt Goes Horribly Wrong

Manny awoke from his place in the cave and noticed immedietly that something was wrong. San was missing from her place near the fire where she usually slept curled up into a ball, facing the cave wall. Sid was missing from his rock, but Granny was stll there, snoring loudly. Ellie was sitting next to him, still sound asleep, and the possums were snoozing on each of her tusks. But where was Peaches? Surely she wouldn't have woken up at this early hour. Or was it really that early? Manny peered through a crack in the cave's rocks. A bright, brilliant yellow ray of sunshine burst through, blinding him for a momement, then he relised. It was afternoon!

They'd slept through the whole morning which meant hunger and no breakfast for anyone. Peaches had gotten up way before them, probably to go and see Ethan, along with Louis. Manny could never understand teenagers today. First it's "let me sleep in", to "Hey Dad, can I go to the Falls?" Another thing that puzzled Manny was that San never woke him up to tell him daylight was here-and Sid? Ever getting up before afternoon? Something was definetly up. He wondered if he should wake Ellie, but thought better of it.

Instead, he stretched and decided to go for a walk. It was a bit depressing seeing everyone already up and about. That only added to the suspicion of where the other members of his herd had run off to. As he watched the sun glow like a gigantic beacon in the sky, Ellie surprised him from behind.

"Manny? Is everything okay?" Manny jumped. "Oh, yeah, yeah, fine." Ellie raised an eyebrow. "M-hm? Then tell me why everyone slept in so late?"

"Well, San was meant to wake me," said Manny, "guess she forgot."

"Well, she's not here-"

"Maybe she went hunting!"

"Manny, did you say something to her too?" asked Ellie concerned.

"What?! Get outta here, no!"

"What about Sid, he's been gone all morning. He was missing when I woke up."

"I don't know Okay!?"

Ellie went over to comfort him. "Manny," she began, "Crash and Eddie are really scared, I'm surprised they didn't have nightmares last night-and to be honest, I'm scared too. Something's out there Manny, I can feel it."

Just then, there was a scream from inside the cave, and then a shriek of laughter. Crash and Eddie came bounding out of the cave, closely followed by a soaking wet, and very angry Granny, waving her stick at them.

"Dag nabbit, can't an old lady sleep in peace around here?! I hope ya'll little rats can run pretty fast, cuz your gonna need it once I'm done with you!" The possums climbed on top of their sister's head, to hide behind her mop of browny red hair.

"Ellie! Ellie! She's crazy! She's gonna get us!" they yepled.

"Only because those two vermin thought it would be funny to drown me while I was sleeping!" Ellie turned to her brothers.

"Guys-"

"It was just water from the lake!" said Crash.

"Wait, the lake!" Manny cut in, "did you see Shira, is she alright?"

"Relax, mammoth," said Eddie, "she's not in any harm!" Then he turned, excitededly to his brother. "Now, let's go if we wanna see Ethan!"

The possums darted away, but Manny stopped them, by picking them up by their tails with his trunk.

"Hey, what's the big id-!" Crash started.

"If your going to see this Ethan, guy, then I'm coming too!" said Manny, very sternly. Ellie just laughed. "Manny, it's not like he's a bad influence," she said, "I've met Ethan's parents, he seems like a nice boy!"

"Even so," said Manny, "how do you know? How do you know he's not some sort of deliquent?" Ellie gave a loud laugh.

"Deliquent? Ethan? Please, that boy is an angel, Manny, he's a saint!"

Whether Ellie liked it or not, Manny was determined to drag her along. The teenage mammoths hang out, and been moved that day. Manny looked, and sure enough, there they were in the centre of the valley, looking cool, and laid-back with no worries or responsibilities. Not a care in the world. At least, not at the moment.

"Come on," Manny beckoned his mate, the two possums and the elderly sloth, "don't let Peaches know we're-"

"Stalking her?"

"No, Crash, keeping an eye on her," said Manny, "now let's move out!"

"Roger that!" said the possums, and they scurried off into the shrubbery.

Peaches sat with the other girl-mammoths. She was talking to Steffie and getting her hair braided by Meghan at the same time. Little did she know, she was being tracked by the two possums, who were scurrying through the foliage at high speed. They seemed to be playing some sort of army game.

" Come in Crash, do you copy? Is everything clear?" "I hear you loud and clear Eddie, copy that, the coast is clear, I repeat the coast is clear-Woah, gotta go now soldior, there's a mammoth here, giving me the cold stare." Manny had appeared over Crash, and if looks could kill, Crash would be dead. He picked up Eddie with his trunk, and flung him into place beside his brother. "Would you two stop playing around?!" he hissed, "We're here to look out for Peaches, not to play silly games. Now get a move on."

After he had gone, Crash mimicked Manny in a goofy voice, with his paw. "We're here to look out for Peaches, not to play silly games-" Man, what's his problem? Doesn't he know we're experts at this?"

"Ssh, dude," said Eddie, "keep your voice down, we're pratically right next to her!

"Well sor-ry! But I happen to be on stealth mode today!"

"Shut up, bro, she's gonna hear us!"

Peaches' ears suddenly pricked up. Was that the wind? Had it been her imagination, or had she heard somebody argueing? Meghan stopped braiding her hair. "Girl, like, what's up?"

"I dunno, for a second there, I thought I just heard my uncles."

"You mean those awkward little possum- boys?" said Steffie, in a catty fashion, "they ain't here."

"Let's hope not,"said Meghan sticking a purple lily-flower behind Peaches' ear, "they'll spoil our girl-time."

"Yeah," said Katie, "I already asked Ethan and his friends to give us some space, they're cool like that, they show respect."

"We'll just see about that," said a voice behind them.

Peaches turned, and gasped. It was her Dad! "Dad, I-I-Hi!"

"Don't play innocent with me, sweetie, now where is he?"

"Who?" Peaches asked confused.

"This, Ethan," snapped Manny, "where is he?"

"Yo, Mr Peaches' Dad, chillax," sighed Steffie.

"I will not chillax, thank you very much," growled Manny, before turning to Peaches, " now tell me the truth honey, where is he?"

"Dad, I don't know."

"He's down by the stream with his guy-friends," said Meghan, exasperated.

"Probably won't be back for another hour or so," added Katie, "he usually just goes down there to play ball."

"Right," said Manny, heading in the direction of the stream.

"No, Dad, wait! You can't-"

"I can do what I want Peaches, don't try to stop me!"

Peaches groaned. When was her Dad going to realise that Ethan wasn't some kind of trouble-maker? That was when she heard the noise again, and knew it definetly wasn't her imagination. Her pea-green eyes shot in the direction of the shrubbery beside them. It sounded like two voices bickering with each other. She went over to investigate, silently, and then pulled back the bushes.

There were Crash and Eddie, rolling around on the floor, strangling each other and fighting, unawre that their teenage neice was standing over them.

"Uh-guys?"

The startled possums looked up, only to see Peaches's baffled face.

"Oh, hey, Peaches" Crash laughed nervously. "Didn't see you there, heh, heh!" Eddie added.

"Eugh!" said Steffie, coming over, "it's those weirdo little possum-freaks!"

Peaches ignored her friend's comment, and continued to speak to the brothers.

"Were you sent by my Dad, to keep an eye on me?" she asked suspicously.

"Us? Pff! No!" said Eddie, "we were just out for a walk, is all!"

"Hmm," said Peaches, not at all convinced, "well, anyway, run along now, go off on some sort of adventure-unless, of course, you wanna hang out with us?"

"Ugh! Peaches, you can not be serious!" said Steffie, using her trunk in frustrated gestures.

"Come on, Steffie," Peaches pleaded, "they're actually kind of cool!"

Steffie looked upon Crash and Eddie, with a disgusted look on her face, as though they were some sort of undesireable creatures-like a pair of slugs. But eventually, she reluctantly agreed to just let them hang around for a little while.

"Oh, thank you so so so much, Steffie," said Peaches, giving her friend a big hug, "you won't regret this, honest!"

"Yeah, uh, okay, what-ev girl!" said Steffie, pushing her friend off of her, "but please, no PC!"

"Huh?"

"You know? "Physical Contact?"

"OH! Right, got it!"

When Ethan returned with his guy-friends, his best bud Zac's first statement was,

"WOAH! Peaches your Dad sure is strict!"

Oh no, Peaches thought to herself, what's he done now? "He found you guys then?" said Peaches, with a smile that was more like a cringe.

"Yeah, well", said Ethan, cringing back, "what Zac here means to say, is that, he gave us all a chewing out."

"Why?" asked Meghan with a slight smirk.

" For "loitering", said Ethan, using quotation marks with his trunk.

"I don't get it," said Zac, "all we were doing was playing ball."

"With a glyptodon kid," Ethan reminded him, then he turned to the girls, "litterally, we picked him, and used his shell for tossing him around!"

"I dunno, he seemed to be enjoying himself!" Zac shrugged.

"That was before his mother showed up, doofus!" said Ethan, giving his friend a playful nudge on the shoulder.

The possums were snickering under their breath, but were shut up by hard looks, given to them by Steffie. Why had they agreed to come along? All Steffie had been doing this whole time was giving them the evils. It was pretty boring here, with a bunch of girls anyway, so they just gabbled something to Peaches about how, "duty calls", and then scampered off in the opposite direction. Peaches watched them go feeling, disappointed that they had left so soon, and slightly annoyed at Steffie for frightening them off. If looks could kill, Crash and Eddie wouldn't still be here!

As for the daring duo, they had climbed up a small fruit tree, situated at the far end of the valley. They waited until they saw Manny and Ellie come passed, and then whispered something, giggling, gleefully. They waited patiently for a gap in the mammoths conversation.

"Manny, I know you worry about our daughter-"

"I do indeed-"

"But please, did you really have to set that boy's mother on him?"

"They were playing ball_ with _her son."

"That's no reason to be so spiteful, still I suppose it's a lot better, I was half-expecting you to drag that young man away from the stream by the ear, in front of all his friends!"

Manny chuckled. "Don't temp me!" he said, laughing.

"Hey Manny!"

Manny looked up and saw the two possums dangling upside-down from a tree, by their tails. "What do you guys want?"

"We have something to tell you-" began Crash.

"If it's about where you found that pineapple last week, I don't wanna know-!"

"No, no no," said Eddie, "what Crash means is that we have a favour to ask you!"

"I'm listening."

"Well," said Eddie, "we haven't done a super-awsome stunt in ages, and we really wanted to get our daredevil streak back, so've set up these two branches on this tree, here." He demonstrated with his paw. "Judging by the trajectory, I think this should just about work."

"Okay, so here's our big favour, here goes," said Crash, taking a deep exhale and then blurting it all out very quickly, "Will you shoot me into the pond over there so that I can preform a spectacular hero dive?"

"Absaloutly not!"

"Aw, come on," whined Crash, "why not?"

"Because I don't want a repeat of last time!"

Crash laughed, like it was no big deal, "So, I got slammed into tree, who cares?" even though he had been the one with an aching pain all over him, for weeks on end afterwards, "just slingshot me into the pond?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No!"

"Please?! Pretty, pretty please with cherries on the top?" Eddie added, thinking he was helping.

"No, No, No, No, No, No and NO!" snarled Manny, "does that answer all of your questions?"

"I agree with Manny on this one, fellas," Ellie told them, "this is dangerous stuff, you could get hurt!"

"It's okay, El," shrugged Crash.

"Yeah," said Eddie, "Manny's probably too lame to do it anyway."

Manny's ears pricked up at these words. How dare they! He went to approach the possums, to wipe that secret smirk off their faces. He'd show them. "Too lame to do it," boy, when Manny shot him out towards the pond, he was gonna make sure he missed it by a mile!

"Dad? What's going on?"

Manny turned to see Peaches, standing behind him, with Louis on her back. "Nothing, honey, it's just that you've got two _idiots _for uncles!"

"Thank you!" said Crash and Eddie, simaltaniously, taking it as a compliment, and then they both cracked up laughing.

"Think that's funny do you? Fine, I'll shoot you into the pond!"

Crash stopped laughing, and a lookof delight flickered across his face. "Sweet! Let's go bro!" he said, bopping fists with his brother. Eddie pulled back the twig slingshot he'd made, and then placed Crash at the back, so he'd go all the way to the pond. Manny then pulled it out farther, so that it would accerlate Crash's speed.

"Manny, this is a bad idea," said Ellie.

"Yeah, Dad, this won't end well." added Peaches.

"I know," replied Manny, "but if it'll shut them up, it's worth a try."

"Uh, he's gona be okay, right sir?" asked Louis, nervously.

"Let's hope not," said Manny, "if he gets hurt, maybe it will teach him to never do it again." He looked up at Crash and Eddie. "Ready, Crash?" Eddie was twirling round and round and doing somersaults on the thin twigs and branches of the tree. "Ready!" Crash called down, giving him the thumbs up.

"You _do_ remember what happend lst time, right?" Manny asked warily.

"Couldn't forget if I tried," Crash replied, cooly. "Okay, here goes, I guess," said Manny, getting ready to launch the slingshot. "Three...two...one-" Crash counted, and then he through back his head, and yelled-"FIRE!" Manny pulled away, and Crash went shooting from the tree like a rocket. They all watched as he darted throught the trees like a missile, going dangerously fast.

"Woah! Look at him go!" exclaimed Eddie. All Peaches and Louis could do was stare dumbfounded as Crash sped towards the pond, through the forest. Most of them were waiting for a splashing sound, but there was silene from beyond the trees.

"Crash, you okay?" Manny asked, a little worried.

"Crash, is everything alright?" Ellie called through the trees, even more anxious.

Nothing.

And then, a brief scream, a loud thump, and then a cry of "Ouch!"

"Oh, no," said Manny, "this can't be good."

"Crash? CRASH!?" Eddie shouted, but still there was no reply. "C'mon!" said Ellie, "let's go find him. Louis dug a tunnel underground, Peaches walked quickly with her parents, but Eddie raced on ahead, determined to find Crash, and shouting for his brother all the while.

Finally, they reached the pond-except it wasn't a pond anymore. There wasn't anything, just a few traces of fish and pondweed lying around. And then they figured it out. Some thirsty animal had drunk it all up. There were freshly made paw-prints in the mud, and that meant that the pond had been drained on that day. Crash hand't landed on water.

"Uh-oh!"Manny cringed.

"No water?" asked Peaches, "then, where's Uncle-"

"CRAAASSH!" Eddie pratically roared, "Crash, where are you?" Then he gasped. When Crash had landed in the sandy-pit, that was once the pond, he had landed head first,into very deep, wet sand, and was sticking out of it, his head buried under the earth, with his little, stripy bottom sticking out, his pink possum tail waving around frantically, and his legs kicking about,pushing on the ground, despretly trying to get free.

"Crash! Are you okay?!" said Eddie, jumping down to get a look at (half of) his brother. Small muffled sounds were the only thing they all heard if the put their ears close to Crash's rump. "What's that buddy?" asked Eddie, "Speak to me!" It sounded like,"Get me the heck outta here!" It was hilarious, and Manny had a hard time keeping himself from laughing. Ellie on the other hand acted fast. "This is bad," then she turned on Manny, "why did you let him go through with it?" "What do you mean "why didn't you?" "Haven't you learned anything from last time?" Ellie questioned him.

"We need to get him outta there!" begged Eddie. "Oh, yes, he's right!" said Ellie, "Manny, use your trunk to pull him out!"

"Why me?!"

"Because it was you who got him into this, and it's you who gets him out!"

"You have a trunk too, you know," Manny muttered, but seeing the look on his mate's face, he knew he would regret it later.

He wrapped his trunk around Crash, and pulled, but couldn't manege to pull him out. So then Ellie had a go, but she couldn't either. "Let me have a go," said Peaches, but she wasn't strong enough to pull him out.

"I could dig around him," Louis offered, "and that just might set him free!"

Slurred sounds of protest came from the half submerged possum. "What'd he say?" asked Ellie.

"He said that he doesn't want the Weiner going near him," Eddie translated, "that he's an embarrassment to the Animal-Kingdom." Crash muttered something unidentifiable from underground. "And I'm not even gonna translate _that!" _

Louis dug round him anyway, despite the moans and groans from the earth-but to no avail. Crash was planted firmly underground like a little flower-one that was bitterly complaining, and kicking it's legs in the air.

"Wait, Mom, Dad, I have an idea!" Peaches suddenly piped up,"what about Ethan? He could help us!"

"That's a good idea," said Ellie.

"No, way!" said Manny darkly, but Ellie was persistent.

"You go get him, sweetheart."

Peaches disappeared while the rest of them waited at the waterless pond. She came back a few minutes later, with Ethan and Zac, and some of his other friends from the stream. Manny groaned. One boy was bad enough but six of them? That was going _way_ too far!

"Woah! What happened to the water?" asked Ethan confused.

"Yeah, it's like, _gone,_" added Zac.

"Do you think you could help us?" Peaches asked.

"Sure thing," said Ethan, casually flicking a bit of blonde hair out of his eyes with his trunk. Manny rolled his own eyes, as he watched a deliquint flirt with his daughter. In no time at all though, Ethan had wrapped his trunk around Crash, and after much effort, finally maneged to pull a very dusty and disevlled- looking Crash out.

"Bro!" said Eddie, hugging his brother, "I thought I lost you!"

"Nah! I'm fine-" he paused for a second.

"Let's do that again!"

"Yeah!"

"I don't think so," said Manny gruffly, "you two are coming back to the valley."

"Aw," said Crash, "well, at least I'm out!"

"Yeah, Ethan saved you," said Eddie, looking up at the teenage mammoth as though he were a god, "without him you would have suffocated under there!"

"Thanks dude!" said Crash, enthusiasticly.

"Ah, it was nothing," said Ethan modestly.

"Can we ride on your back?" asked Crash.

"Yeah, sure hop on! And hold on tight!" he advised.

Crash and Eddie clambered aboard Ethan's back, and Louis rode back on Peaches. Zac and the rest of his friends followed, as Ethan, Peaches, Louis and the possums all started chatting.

"See?" whispered Ellie, to Manny, "I told you that boy was sweet!"

Manny took a look at the mammoth that was probably going to be his son-in-law one day. He shuddered at the very thought.

"Meh, I still don't trust him," said Manny through gritted teeth.

The rest of the evening went well, despite that San, Sid or Shira had been seen all day. And as for Diego, who knew where he could be by now, Manny thought sadly, why had he been such a fool, and treated his friend with such disrespect in such a hostile manner? The animals all returned to the centre of the valley, where they took up their usual daily activities. Manny was walking with Ellie along the trail that lead up to the big hill. Peaches, Ethan, Louis and the other teenage mammoths were all playing beside the shrubbery where Crash and Eddie had been playing their little army game. Louis was there with his parents who were laughing at Ethan and calling him, "Stud," which seemed to make him blush.

"Peaches sure is growing up fast," said Ellie fondly, watching her daughter play ball with an (uninhabited) turtle shell.

"Yeah," replied Manny, "seems like only yesterday she was playing in the snow with her uncles-and now-wow, it really seems like I'm not even noticing how big she's getting."

"You gotta admit, that Ethan boy is certainly_ strong,_" said Ellie looking over at him. Manny snorted. "What him?" he replied, "Ha! He's just-"

"Wait!" Ellie stopped him.

"What?"

"Don't you hear that?"

"Hear what?" asked a baffled Manny.

"Ssh!" hushed Ellie, "Listen."

Manny pricked up his ears-and sure enough, something, low and humming, pounded againest his eardrum. It sounded vaugely like running feet, but there was nobody around him.

"What is that?" Manny said, looking around. It couldn't be the mammoths, even_ they _aren't _that_ heavy-footed. Nobody else in the valley was running. There was something else too-it sounded like a snarl, or a roar. But how?

That's when he looked up, and saw San, running down the hill towards them, along with Sid, who was plumeting down the hill, and panting loudly. They were breathing heavily, running away from something, but what? San was shouting something, but Manny couldn't read her lips. She said it again, louder this time, and Sid was shouting it too, although he still didn't know what it could be. Why did they look so scared? And then that's when he saw it.

Coming up behind them-was the most terrifying-looking thing he had ever seen in his life.

It was something evil, a knarled and twisted black shape, that was chasing them down the hill, at a fast pace, catching up, so close that could easily have taken a snap at Sid's ankles. Manny knew he should do something, but he couldn't, he was rooted to the spot, frozen in fear. The same effect seemed to have happened to Ellie, she couldn't move either. The rest of the animals had made a break for it though, scattering everywhere, in every direction, trying to avoid the black shape. Peaches was yelling at them that they had to go, trying to pull them along, and Louis' parents had grabbed him, and had started digging underground to get to a safer place, anywhere but here.

A few weeks ago, Manny would have scoffed at Sid, claiming to have seen a monster. Now he knew that he had been right all along. This wasn't any fabrication of Sid's mind.

This, was frighteningly real.

They came closer, the animal hot on their trail, panic written all over their faces, but Manny still couldn't move, mostly because he thought he, for one startling momement, recognised the animal that was chasng them.

His muscles tensed, gripped with fear, he didn't know what else to do but to just stand there, staring up at the great terror, black, with oozing red pus coing out of it's body.

"RUN!" San shouted.


	9. Chapter 9:Where Everything Becomes Cryst

**An Ice Age FanFic: A Demon in the Midst **

**Hello All! Back again! Sorry for the long wait, but I have been on holiday! (some of this was written on a train!) In this chapter, we are back to present time, (thank goodness!) and this is where the herd much reach safety, if they don't want to become infected with Diego's curse. Desprete, they seek expert help, from Abu, the wise orangutan, (the only character in this story I own). This is the chapter where everything is explained properly. Will they reach a refuge in time? P.S: Diego's demon-curse is from the Anime Studio Ghibli film, "Princess Mononoke", and I also got the idea of the cursed black slug on the magic seal from "Spirited Away." I do not own that either, nor the demon-it might get a little scary, and afterwards, Diego is going to get, badly hurt- yeah, sorry if it gets a bit too surreal! I hope you enjoy it anyway though! Again, please review to tell me what you think! :) **

Chapter 9: Where Everything Becomes Crystal Clear

San came flying down towards them. She grabbed hold of Sid's hand, and they both made a running leap, barely just dodging the monster that was chasing them. Manny could see it much more clearly now, as it came into view properly. The black ooze. The bloody tendrils. The feirce, firey eyes that Manny had almost thought he recognised, peircing into his soul. The eyes were now just evil little red pinpricks of light, escaping from underneath all that black goo slithering like a snake out of the creature's body.

With one last jump from the ground, almost in slow-motion, San and Sid flew from the hill, and went soaring through the air, and landed, caught by Manny, who gripped them tightly in his trunk, and had no intention of letting them go.

With that, Manny took off, followed by his mate Ellie, sprinting across the valley. San was shaking very much, she pratically hugged Manny's trunk, hanging on for dear life. No matter what, she was not going to let herself slip.

"What is that thing?" gasped Manny as they ran for their lives.

"It's- Diego!" replied San. She was panting so hard, that she had to take a breath between words, she could hardly speak.

Sid on the other hand, looked like he was probably never going to speak again. He was wheezing worse than he had been the day he had spotted the "thing", in the forest. Both dripping with sweat from running so hard, they both looked liked they were in danger of collapsing, so Manny held them higher above, away from whatever was wanting them for lunch.

"Diego?!" panted Manny, "What do you mean?!"

"That, thing, it's Diego!" said San.

"That _thing_ is Diego?! You mean, _Diego _is the monster?!"

"No! It isn't a monster, it's a demon! I've seen it before! It takes the form and shape of an animal, it takes over their body and soul! Don't you see?! He's possessed! It's him, but it's not him! He doesn't know what's going through his mind!"

Manny was absaloutly flabbergasted. He was finding this all very difficult to take in. So, while he was away, Diego had become a demon?! Sure, he had heard of the demons before, everybody had, but he thought it was just a myth! No more than a creepy bedtime story to scare little kids into behaving themselves. He had always been pretty sceptic of all means of fictional things and beings, and and spent most of Peaches' childhood trying to keep her away from the forest, which he presumed was full of other dangerous beasts, wolves and bears and wild dogs-things he thought were much more importent than beliveing in olden day fairy-tales. Yet here he was, being chased by the most terrifying thing on earth., which was concentrating on only one thing.

Killing them.

Manny went faster, as San regained her strength on his large furry back. Sid was over the side, and was threatning to vomit, and that certainly made Manny go a lot faster! They all ran, mothers clutching their babies and children to their chests, and birds flying high above the canopy of the treetops, not wanting to look back, for anything. San closed her eyes, still burrying her face in Manny's fur. She could not belive this was happening. The last animal she knew, who had that curse, had died a very slow, and painful death. She shuddered, thinking about Nago, the great boar god, his remains, still lying in the field beside the Emishi human village, where he had lived his afterlife in pure misery.

She didn't want Diego to go the same way, but at the moment, there wasn't much they could do to help him, if they approached him now, they may as well be engraving their own coffins. "We have to get everyone to safety!" shouted San, over all the noise. "Where?!"shouted Manny in reply, "there's no cave or any means of shelter for miles!" San started scouraging the area, looking for somewhere to huddle everyone to a better place, anywhere but where they were now.

She found Ellie and Peaches, nervously darting through the crowd of terrified animals. Peaches was nearly in tears. "Mom, we have to get everyone out of here, now!" Ellie was despretly trying to calm down the frantic animals as they raced past her.

"Everyone! Please, form an orderly position! Stay calm, don't panic!" "Mom, isn't there a cave nearby?"

"No, sweetie, there's nothing-" but even as she said this, she saw the forest up ahead. They could hide amongst the trees, they looked thick enough.

"Manny!" she called out to her mate.

"Ellie! I'm coming, don't worry!"

"Dad! Dad!" screamed Peaches, "we've gotta help the others!"

"Not now, Peaches, we've got to focus on helping ourselves!"

"Manny!" panted Ellie, "there's a cluster of trees over there, maybe they could keep us all safe!"

"Ellie, no! It's too long to run, we'll never make it time!"

"Yes, we will!" said Peaches, "it's worth a try Dad, we can make it! Please, _trust me!" _

Manny looked at the trees- and then his daughter. The trees, were their last hope, all they had left.

"Okay," he said at last, "let's move out!" They started sprinting toward the trees, shouting at the other animals to get a move on.

"Go! Go!"

"Into the trees!"

"Hurry! You have to get to the forest!"

When Manny looked back at Diego, he caught a glimpse of his claws-four inches sharp, and scratching the ground.

Some took the advice and followed them, others still remained hysterical. Scattering in all directions and screaming. The rest of them all took action. The possums sat cowering on each of Ellie's tusks, and Peaches could no longer hold in her tears.

"We, should have listened to Uncle Sid!" she sobbed. A pleased sound came from the sloth that was hanging off Manny's back, and though he hated to admit it, Manny knew that Sid had been right all along. About the monster, about the horror of it all,about everything. The trees were nearer now, they could reach out and touch their low hanging branches, feel the crunch of pine needles under their feet. They had done it! They had escaped into the trees!

Everyone was in such a state, panting and sweating and shaking. Louis and his parents had followed them, and were removing debris and dirt from their hair and fur. Some of the other animals were shivering, as the ground underneath their feet was crisp with frost. Everyone was so worried about the whole situation that they had failed to notice Sid was vomiting silently from behind a bush. There was an awkward silence-and then Manny asked the stupidest question in the entire world.

"Is Everybody Alright?"

"Alright?!" bellowed a start, "we were almost_ killed _by your reckless stunt back there!"

"We were, actually," added Crash.

"Yeah," chimed in Eddie, "and we know all about reckless stunts!"

"Well, we're safe NOW, aren't we?!"

"But what about Diego?" said San. Manny, in his rant had forgotten about their saber friend.

"I-I don'tknow, San," replied Manny, heplessly, "so, you say, you've seen this before, then?"

"Yes, I have," San replied sadly. She told them the story of Nago, and about how after he was shot with an arrow, it had cured his curse-but at a terrible price. When she had finished, everyone was speechless. San could see fear in Ellie's lime green eyes.

"But-but-" she stammered unable to get the words out. Manny comforted his mate. "Don't worry, Ellie," he told her, "we're going to be just fine in here."

"No we won't!" protested the angry start, "we'll starve!"

"Or, suffocate!" added a bird.

"We'll all perish!" groaned a glyptodon.

Sid whimpered, and San did her best to tell him without words that everything was going to be alright. At that moment, there was comotion coming from outside the trees. They all kept deadly silent, and Manny motioned to them all to get back. From out of the corner of their eyes, they spotted something move-or rather, slither-into the valley, next to the clearing of trees they were hiding in. The demon crouched down, and that was when they saw him.

Diego.

Everyone standing in the clearing gasped. Crash and Eddie's mouths dropped open, as the writhing black goop, removed itself of his body, only for an instant, revealing that same orange-tan fur. His eyes were half-closed, and his teeth contained flecks of the black tendrils, he started shaking, all four of his legs wobbling, and about to give way.

"Diego?!" Ellie gasped, in disbelif. "But Dad, how?!" asked Peaches, with a look of shock on her face. Sid stood agast, trembling, and all Manny and San could do was stand there, not able to look anywhere else. Diego looked like he was in a lot of pain, and worst of all, thick veins, like tree-roots were starting to appear all over him. "He's become a demon," said San, softly.

Peaches turned to her father. "But, Dad," she said, "you told me they wern't real! You said they were just a fairy-story!" "Well, apparently I was wrong," sighed Manny.

Then, all in a flash, Diego's body began to grow over with black again, creeping over his body, across his eyelids. They could see he was trying to fight it, but to no avail. The demon finally won, and then something horrible happened.

The ooze emitted a ghastly stench, that had them all holding their noses. It was much worse then what San and Sid had smelt out in the forest. The pungent aroma filled the air, turning it deadly and toxic. Crash and Eddie started to gag, so Ellie covered their mouths so they wouldn't breath it in. As for the rest of them, they covered their whole nasal area, not wanting a single whiff to sear their nostrils.

All of a sudden, it stopped and Diego turned to look at them, anger in his face. They all froze. Diego swayed where he was, and the red of his eyes, turned to a startling shade of white. San had to cover her mouth to stop herself screaming, because Diego opened his mouth in a snarl, and blood trickled from his mouth. Dark, and deep red, it fell to the ground in a stream, making a river of blood all around him. But the worst part was that he didn't stop there. He went on bleeding, oozing from his body and from his feet, seeping deep into the ground. He swayed some more, and then fell, with a loud thud onto the ground.

He twitched where he lay, only allowing more blood to escape from his body. That was when San lost it.

"No! NO!" she screamed, running out of the trees and giving them all away.

"San, NO, DON'T!" Manny yelled after her, "DON'T TOUCH HIM!"

San paid no attention and knelt down beside the body of their friend. The bloody tendrils had started to force their way out again, adding to the hurt. She brushed them off despretely, not wanting anymore to grow.

"Diego! DIEGO!" she screamed, "CAN YOU HEAR ME, DIEGO?! DON'T LET YOURSELF TURN INTO THIS! DON'T LET YOURSELF BECOME A DEMON!" She yelled the words over and over again until her voice was hoarse. She tried to turn him over, but when she looked at her hands, blood came away on her fingers. She stifled a scream, and tried to get him to calm down, even when he kept thrashing about. The others thought it now safe to come in closer from the trees, but the other animals scattered. Manny came running first, quickly followed by Ellie, Peaches, the possums, Louis and Sid. Manny intervened first, and maneged to pull a screaming San off of Diego, who by now looked weak and ragged.

"NO! NO! NO! NO! NOOO!" San started fighting, but the others just kept pulling her back. Manny turned to the possums.

"Quick! You guys, go get Abu! He'll know what to do!"

"On it!" they chorused, and sped away as quick as they could to try and find their ape.

Abu was the wise and holy guru that hepled the animals of the valley with their problems. In this case it was a big one. He had also been known to heal wounds, and to create magical medicines that really did work. He offered advice, be it with family or relationships, and brought peace among others. He was their last hope.

Diego had soon stopped writhing, and by now, had one half of him orange fur, the other half, a blackish shape. He didn't look very well, and his eyes were now shut tight. San released from Ellie's trunk, amd stepped back panting.

"What do we do now?" Louis finally asked.

"Crash and Eddie have gone to get Abu," explained Manny.

"The wise shamen -ape?" said Ellie.

"That's him," replied Manny. San waited a moment, to make sure the possums were gone, and then she burst into tears.

"Oh, honey," said Ellie, wrapping her trunk around San, "I know, I know."

"It's not fair," whispered San, burying her face into Ellie's fur, and then she yelled it. "It's not fair!" She feircely wiped away her tears. Sid patted her on the shoulder. "It'll be okay, San, don't worry," he said, although he didn't sound very convinced himself.

A while later, Crash and Eddie returned with Abu, the wise orangutuan. He was a large, bulky ape with amber fur, and sleepy brown eyes. He knew a soloution to everything, and the herd hoped he knew what to do about this.

"We've found him!" called Crash. Abu made his way over in lumbering steps to Diego.

"Aah, good day, Manfred. Elizabeth. I remember you coming to ask me for advice on behalf of your newborn child, whom I see is now a beautiful grown-up mammoth. Now, these two here, tell me that your friend has become quite injured."

"Yes, that's right," nodded Manny.

"May I see the patient?" The animals stepped aside to let Abu through. They noticed that he was carrying a lot of funny looking things. A plant that towered over their heads, a handful of white lily flowers, and weirdest of all, tiny rocks and stones, all different shapes and sizes. He was surprisingly calm when he saw Diego, lying there, still bleeding. The tendrils had shrank, but the damege had still been done.

"Diego," he whispered. Manny's ears suddenly pricked up.

"Wait, you know him?!"

"I have known him ever since he was a young cub," replied Abu, starting to lay out the rocks and stones, first around him, and then around Diego. He lifted him up slightly, to put the rocks and stones under his body, before lighting a fire, heating them. "These will keep him warm," he explained. He sat down in his circle, before handing out the herd member each a white lily. "Here, chew these," he ordered.

"What are they?" asked Peaches, curiously toying with one of the plants.

"These, my dear are Lilium candildum," Abu stated, "they will prevent you from infection if any of this tiger's curse has maneged to weasel it's way inside of you."

"Curse?" whimpered Crash.

"Indeed."

The other animals didn't argue, and popped the sweet, vanilla-tasting flower into their mouths. They tasted nice, but somewhat strange.

"Lilium candildum is also good for treating wounds and burns. I can see this young lady here has hurt her paws rather badly."

San looked down at her bloody hands. She had noticed that they had started to burn.

"Here," said Abu, handing her an extra flower, "rub this on them. It has been known for it's magical healing qualities of the skin."

San did as he had instructed and rubbed the flower on her hands, which by now, were beginning to bubble rather nastily. The soft, white petals soothed them almost instantly. Abu scattered a few across Diego's limp body. Then, he tore up the large plant and stretched that across Diego as well. When he had finished, he looked upon the motionless sabre with a mixture of sadness and disapointment.

"Oh, Diego, what have you gotten yourself into?"

Then he turnd to the herd. "Now, I must ask you all, did you know at all what was going on?"

Everyone shook their heads. Abu seemed to be nodding, and taking mental notes.

"Well, actually," gupled Manny, "I did-have, a-very strange dream about something, scary."

"Strange in what way?"

"Er-well," stammered Manny, unable to respond, so Ellie helped him.

"I had a nightmare too," she told Abu, "there was a big, black shape in it."

"I had a-n-night, t-t-terror," quivered Sid.

"Me, too," said San, "it had this evil twisted black thing in it, just like Ellie said."

"Intersting," muttered Abu, "so, you all had the same dream?"

"Pretty much," answered Peaches.

"I-I, had a dream about something, t-t-terrifying," shuddered Louis, "I was with Peaches, and we were both shouting at Diego, can't imagine why."

Abu paused for a moment, then continued to ask them questions.

" I see. Was there any actual sighting of this beast?"

"I saw it," said Sid, rather proudly, Manny thought, "with my own two eyes!"

"Us too!" chimed in Crash and Eddie.

"And, me!" added San, "there was some tracks down in the forest, near the falls."

Peaches jumped. "That's where we were yesterday! And my friends all said that they thought they saw something weird going on near there! And call me crazy, but I felt I was being watched walking through that forest!"

"Abu?" Ellie turned to the orungutan who sat in his circle of stones and was thinking deeply. He pondered for a while, and then said, "You are all Diego's closest friends and family, aren't you?" There was a mixed reply of "Yes."

"And he'd never do anything to hurt you?"

"Well," started Crash. "We can get on his nerve's sometimes," finished Eddie, "but underneath all that hard-stone, tiger, there's a soft, old pussy-cat!"

_Thank goodness Diego wasn't concious to hear that, _Eddie thought to himself.

"Hmm," said the ape, "tell me, does Diego have a mate? Or an admirer?"

"Shira!" Manny remembered, " she's his girlfriend! She's still down at the lake." Abu bent down so he waslevel with the possums. "Could you two kindly go down to the lake and fetch this Shira please?" he told them, "we need her, too."

Crash and Eddie both saluted, "Yes, sir!" and then raced off to go find the saberess.

Shira sat looking out across the pale blue lake, as it glistened in the moonlight. Waves ofgreen pondweed floated on the surface of the crystal water, creating small circles coming toward her. Although pretty, the water could not compare to the sheer beauty of her sapphire eyes. Suddenly, the sound of scampering feet came from behind her. She growled.

"No, no, Shira, it's only us!" Eddie reassured her. The tigress spun round, and saw Crash and Eddie, the two opossums whom she hadn't seen for days, standing behind her, looking very tired and out of breath.

"Oh, sorry, hello. What do you guys want?" she said, coldly. The two panting possums finally maneged to make real words and tell her everything. "It's-it's, Diego," they told her. Shira sat up. "What?! He's Here?!" "Yes, but he's badly hurt!" cried Eddie. "And we need you to come help him!" said Crash. "Follow us!" they both said. Shira ran the wind after them, sprinting to valley. _Whatever it is, _she told her herself,_ No matter how bad it is, I've got to be strong. Strong for him... _

Back at the valley, the other herd-members were all describing what they had seen in their dreams and in reality, Sid now acting as though he was some sort of hero, and Manny rolling his eyes, as he tried to make himself sound far more heroic then he had been.

"So, then San got scared, and I had to carry her all the way back here!" he bragged. "Oh, please," laughed San, "that did not happen, and even if it did, do you honestly think that I'd let you pick me up?!" Just then, they saw two tiny black and white shapes, followed by a much bigger whiteish-grey figure, running towards them. Shira had returned. The herd were all so happy to see her, but there was no time for "long time, no sees," as they had work to do.

Poor Crash and Eddie, who had done so much running today, were lifting up by Ellie and placed on each of her tusks. Shira skidded to a halt, beside the mammoths.

"Where is he?" she said searching the valley.

"So, you must be Shira," said Abu.

"Um, yes. I, am. Where's Diego?" Abu looked saddened. "I'm afraid, my dear,you may not like, what you are about to see."

"What?!" Abu stepped aside, and Shira saw Diego, lying almost dead on the ground, droplets of dried blood all around him.

"Agghhhh! D-Diego?!" she sobbed, "No!" She looked at the mammoths. "What, what happened?" When she was told she began to cry. "Demons?! It simply can't be!" Abu examined Diego's body.

"It's a demon alright," sighed Abu, "and it's a very nasty one. It is based off of hatred, and anger, unleashing terror on everyone. Nago, the great boar god was unlucky enough to pass by one of these. It ate him alive, before he attacked a human settlement. This one, once attachingitself to a host, spreads throughout the body, coarsing through the veins, like a virus. It has crept into his body and poisoned him." Everyone remained silent. Abu looked at Shira. "Did you experience this strange dream?" "Dream? What dream?" she replied, "I'm sure I did, have a nightmare about Diego, beside the lake, and then when I woke up, I was half in the water. Was I pushed?"

"It is possible," replied Abu, "now, the reason for this nightmare, is because since you are all techically Diego's family, the demon has planted it's fear inside of you-metaphorically speaking that is," he added, catching the look of dismay on Crash's face. "Peaches, my dear, the feeling you had of another pair of eyes in the forest, watching you was true. Anyone else who experienced this, the demon was trying to latch itself on to you first, but since Diego was away, it cornered him first, instead."

"But what about the storms?" asked Manny.

"Only another example of the demon's great anger, sending the warning signs, before it's attack."

Alarm started ringing inside San's head. "But, but_ I _saw Diego in the forest the on the day, a few hours, before he left. But when I returned to the valley, he was already there, except he was behind me when I left him wandering in the fields, he couldn't arrived back before me, it's just impossible!"

"That is because my dear," Abu told her, "that the mononoke is a strange, unatural force, responsible for many-a strange and unexplaind events. Such as the seasons changing. The spirits help with that, or the way the river flows, heading out to sea, they help with that too."

He looked at Diego for a moment, then sighed, and turned to Manny.

"Tell me about Diego," he asked, " it's been a while, and I'm afraid, I haven't known him since the very last time I saw him, when he was very young."

Manny nodded, "Alright," he cleared his throat, "Well, Diego, wasn't like the way he is now before he met us. We helped each other, only me and Sid at the time to return a human baby to the Iron Town settlement. Then along the way, we met Diego, and San, two fighters, whom bothplanning an attack on the humans together. 'Course, Diego didn't really want to help us, he was only leading us into an ambush. And then there was Soto-"

"Soto?!" Abu cut him off, "surely you don't mean-"

" Well, yes Diego's old pack-leader, right?"

"He wasn't just a packleader, nor just a sabre, shuddered Abu, "he wasa god, leader of te sabre clan, good friends with your mother Moro, San-for a while anyway."

"My mother was smart enough to know Soto for who he was," spat San, "a thief, a lier and a coward! Sure, she hepled the sabres, but Soto was a disgrace to the great forest spirit!"

Manny told him about how Diego stood up for them, and fought Soto, getting himself badly injured in the process. Then about how Manny had killed him, to which Ellie gasped.

"So he's dead then, Manfred?"

"Yes, he was impaled by icicles."

"Oh, thank goodness-" Abu stopped, "sorry, but that Soto was the worst. I'm not surprised Diego has this awful curse. Hanging about with the likes of _him, _Soto probably filled hisheart with hate, just asthis has done" He stared upon Diego. "And to think, Diego didn't do anything to stop him, what with being a prince and all."

Everyone froze.

"Uh-what, Prince?!"

Abu looked taken aback.

Why, surely, he must have told you!" he said, sounding rather shocked, "after all, I'd be surprised if he didn'tmention anything."

"Did _you _know about this, Shira?" Ellie asked the saberess.

Shira shrugged, uncomfortably. "Diego doesn't like to discuss his past," she explained, "he likes to keep things a secret."

_Boy do I know how that feels, _thought Manny.

"Diego was a_ prince?!"_ exclaimed Sid, "I didn't know that! He never said a thing to me!"

"Prince of what?" asked a curious San.

"Well, my dear," said Abu, sitting down in his circle again, "I shall tell you..."

**Diego is a prince?! Who knew?! Not even **_**I**_** saw that one coming, this was a very recent idea. First of all, I would like to apologise for the sheer length of this chapter. The whole idea of Diego being a prince, was actually quite last minute. I hope it was a good add to the mixture, and all-in-all, relevent to the story itself. I just wanted to make this intersting. Second of all, sorry if the chapter got gory with all the blood, **_**(well, I did warn you!) **_**Hope it doesn't put you off. Third of all, I would not recomend putting any of Lilium candildum in your mouth. Although, not poisonous, and very beneficial to the skin's irrations, they are NOT nice to eat. I doubt flowers are part of a human's stable diet. The characters only did it, because they're animals, (well San, **_**half**_** animal,) and theplant is very heplful. Thank you for reading, (if you're still here,) and please don't forget to post your reviews! :) **


	10. Chapter 10: On the Hunt For The Medicine

**An Ice Age FanFic: A Demon in the Midst **

**I've been eager to update quicker then usual, because I wanted to write this chapter for a while now. This is where we learn about Diego's mysterious past. The secrets, are about to be revealed... **

**Chapter 10: On the Hunt For the Medicine **

_The Story of the Cursed Prince. _

_"It was many years ago, before any of you were born, that it started. When I was in my younger, youthful years, I came across the most peculiar thing in the world, and years laterthis one peculier thing caused the trouble that it started. I was out in the forest, foraging for my favourite fruit, when suddenly, I heard it. A tiny meep, coming from under a bush. I slowly, pulled the foliage away, and do what I saw? _

_A baby male sabre! The tiny tiger was all curled up, amongst the leaves, wrapped around him like a blanket. I picked him up, taking care of course, as young cubs tend to teeth on just about anything. I held him up to the light, to get a good look at him. He was small, with big paws, dark orange fur, with dark brown markings around the eyes. He giggled when I stroked his nose. _

_I sat with him while he played, chasing a butterfly, waiting for a mother or a father, or somebody to come and collect him. _

_But nobody did. _

_It started to drizzle, which quickly became a downpour of rain. Thunder and lightning soon joined in, and I couldn't just leave him out there. So I scooped him up, and took him back to my cave for shelter. He cried, and whined a lot that night, listening to the crashing sounds of the howling wind, and the storm outside. I cradled him close. A cub would not survive very long out here on his own. He needed his mother's milk, someone of his own kind to watch over him. I held him up, seeing his sleek feline face in the pale moonlight. At his fur, his markings. This dark-haired warrior was a gift from god. Therefor, I gave him the name "Dangelo," meaning, "the Angel," and decided to raise him as my own. _

_As Dangelo grew older, he became much stronger, and a lot more agile._

_I decided to teach him how to fight, and to defend himself. One day, I took him to the valley to play with the other children, but he got too rough with them. I recieved a number of parental complaints. So instead, I took him down to the river, to play with the other tiger cubs. They all thought me a little weird of course. Parents gave me funny looks wherever I went, wondering how an orungutan could raise a sabre-tooth. But eventually, Dangelo made friends, down near the creek, a short of play-area if you like for the children. The kids all looked up to and respected him, for he was the eldest amongst them. He soon grabbed the attention of Olena, a beautiful female sabre cub, with light-orange fur and bright hazel eyes. Olena, (her name meaning, "light,") was a young and carefree spirit of a cub, while Dangelo remained grumpy and grouchy, getting annoyed whenever she was around."_

"Hey! That's just like you and Ellie, Manny!" Sid laughed.

_"However, it appeared he must have liked her too, because they fell in love, and became mates. They escaped to a forest wonderland, where they met with other tigers regulary, to go hunting. From this spot, they created a kingdom together. A kingdom for tigers only, called "Taigasu no Rerumu", translating in Japanese as, "The Realm of Tigers," and there they gave birth to a healthy cub. But a tragic loss occured, and Olena gave birth to a stillborn baby. Years later, they had more cubs, six at the time. I was the one who christened their baby, a small, weak at that time, male cub, with orange-tan fur, and rather peculier hazel-green eyes-that cub was Diego."_

"Woah!" gasped the possums.

_"Diego was a shy little thing. Because he was weak and timid, he was often picked on by his own bretherin. As I watched him grow, I began to notice something strange. His cat's eyes would reflect a dazzling glow when faced with the sun. In very bright sunlight, the pupils would glow bright green. Also, as he was growing up and maturing, he began to grow slightly stronger nearly every day. I confronted Dangelo about this, but for some reason, he wouldn't listen to me. He refused to listen to me. I decided to take it upon myself to have a little chat with Diego."_

_"I took him to the Forest Spirit's pool. I taught him about the life in every living thing,about the many plants and animals of the forest. Of course, he never really listened. He was far more content on chasing things, and prowling about. It wasn't until I mentioned the topic of hunting, that his ears suddenly pricked up, and he snapped to attention. I motioned to a deer, standing on the other side of the water, grazing. I showed him his position, techniques, until all in a flash, he sprinted to the other side of the pool, and grabbed that poor deer by the neck, killing it instantly. He smiled when I rushed over._

_"How was a Master Abu?" I was absaloutly flabbergasted. He had never killed anything before, nor had I seen a hunter so swift. Such agility and power and speed to take something down that quick, from so young an age and that larger than himself! He could have died. He was only a cub you know. Trying to hide my obvious surprise and confusion, I simply replied, "You did very well, my boy!" to which he laughed, and raced off with the deer's remains. After that, he was able to kill anything, just as quickly as he had killed that deer. I was the one who had taught Diego how to hunt, and Dangelo was furious because of it. I wasn't even his own father, yet I had the audacity to teach him how to hunt?!_

_"You should be ashamed of yourself!" he growled, "how dare you teach my son how to hunt! That's my job!"_

_Olena was much softer. She tried to get her mate to calm down, see reason, but he wouldn't. He even threatened to banish me, imagine! His own adoptive father! Mind you, he'd always hated Diego." _

"Really?!" asked a disbeliving Ellie.

_"Oh yes. Ever since he lost his first born child, his hatred for his own offspring was sour and bitter. He belived that he had stolen his first baby away from him, that Diego had killed it. The six others he cared for. Diego, his seventh child, he saw as a threat to him, a bad omen, tried to kill him a couple of times, by trying to drown him, mostly. Or letting him wander off on his own. And once, even offering him up to a very hungry bear."_

"That's awful," sobbed Ellie.

"Yes my dear, it most certainly is."

"Go on, Abu," persuaded San.

Trying to drown him... that was all Manny could think. Diego being scared of water-it all made sense now.

_"The fact that Olena never knew about these little incidents, only made things_ _worse. As queen, she was to take charge of anything that went wrong in her little kingdom, but it was getting bigger every day. More and more tigers were fighting. Rebellion was rising. Rumors were sprouting up about Diego, spreading like wildfire. People were saying that he was evil, that he was the Devil's child. That the Forest Spirit should let him die."_

The herd felt shivers up their spines, they weren't quite sure if it was just the wind, or something else, far worse. Abu continued.

_"One day, a cub died, not so far from the Forest Spirit's pool. His father came by, to kingdom council once, presenting the body of the dead sabre in front of him._

_"Augustas! What on Earth's happened?!" gasped a horrified Olena, standing up._

_"It was him," was all Augutas could say, "it was your son. My boy, Amos, wandered into the pool of water. He walked up to the spirit itself, and dared stare it straight in the eyes." He was choking with tears and sadness in his voice, at everything he was saying, "he wandered into the Forest Spirit's pool, but he didn't come out!"_

_"There, there, Augustas my friend," soothed Dangelo, "we shall see to it, that your son is avenged." I shall never forget the bitterness he had in his voice._

_All paws pointed to Diego now, and the accusations were even worse_ _than before. They said he was cursed, that he was a sin, and others had tried to do away with him. But under my watch, I was determined for him not to come to any harm._

_I was the one who saw Dangelo with Diego at the pool, Dangelo holding Diego's head in the water. "Stop, Stop!" Diego was saying, coughing and spluttering, "I CAN'T BREATH!"_

_"Now you know how that poor cub felt," was all Dangelo replied, without a string of pity in his voice. I decided to rush over and intervene._

_"Dangelo, STOP!" He turned, and looked at me, said that I was not concerned here, it was between him and Diego and I had no buissnus here. Besides, who was I to defend him? He deserved this, punishment would stop him from ever doing it again. I told him that I wasn't just going to stand here any longer and watch him slowly gag his own son to death._

_"Then go away," snarled Dangelo, and this time, I saw something shocking. The same flickering orbs of green light that appeared on Diego's eyes, right that minute, flashed across Dangelo's. So bright and so vivid, that it almost blinded me. I rushed back to the council, and told them what I'd seen, but didn't get much of a reaction out of them. Whether they already knew, or just didn't believe me, to this day, I will never know. But they knew alright, I'm sure of it." _

"Knew what?!" gulped Eddie.

_Dangelo was a demon. An evil being. Dear me, was I wrong about a "gift from god." The day I'd picked him up in the forest as a baby cub, wondering why he had been abandoned, now I knew. That green light. It comes from a powerful supernatural force that lurks within the demon that is possessing Diego right now. It has no name, only that every valley- dweller fears it. When Olena gave birth to Diego, Dangelo had passed his powers and this demonic being onto him. It would eat them both alive. If Diego hadn't betrayed the kingdom, then I don't know what would have happened." _

"But I don't get it," said Crash, "what did Diego do that was so bad?"

_There was a long pause. And then Abu answered in a voice so melancholic it could have broken the heart of even the hardest of animal._

_"He killed his father."_

The whole herd had been stunned into silence. All they could do was stand there, mouths a gape. For at least 20 minutes, no one spoke a word. Just the soft sound of the early summer breeze blew at the trees in the distance. Finally, Abu spoke again.

_"It started off just like any other day in the kingdom. This was a few years on, Diego was a teenager by this point. And he had started hanging around with Soto, and his gang. They stole, they hunted, they lied. Diego wasn't like this, I was sure of that. Olena often begged Dangelo to do something about it, speak with Soto's mother, or anything. But Dangelo never did. Everyone knew Soto had come from a bad home and that his father had brought him up to be terrible. But as he had picked Diego to be his friend, he singled him out, because of his strength. Sure, Zeke was speed, Lenny was power and Oscar was brains, but Diego had something that none of them had. Guts. Courage. He would risk his life to save almost anything, anyone. Some thought him stupid, others were amazed."_

_It was on this particular day, that a grand festival was to take place in the Realm of the Tigers. It was the anniversary of the founding of the kingdom. Dedicated to the King Dangelo and Queen Olena. Food was prepared, a great banquet was held at city council in the forest, decorations were up and a fine, festive, merry mood danced around, everyone happy. I sat next to Dangelo at the city council log desks, eating cashew nuts from a tortoise shell bowl and sipping a tiny flower glass of elderflower wine, trying to enjoy myself, but at the same time, feeling as though something wasn't right."_

_"Is something wrong, Abu?" asked Dangelo, laughing._

_"Oh. No, no!" I insisted, "just taking in the glorious atmosphere!"_

_He smiled and stared around him at his many loyal subjects who were all having a wonderful time. _

_"It's a fine thing, isn't it?" he said, proudly, "to be surrounded by so many loyal subjects. And to have so many acres of land! Wouldn't you agree, Abu?" _

_"Hmm," was all I replied. _

_"Abu," said Dangelo in a much more angrier tone_

_a wonderful time. "It's a fine thing isn't it?" he stated, admireing the view, "to be ruler of such a wealthy and beautiful so many loyal subjects, and so many glorious acres of land. And to be so close to the Forest Spirit's pool. Grand isn't it?"_

_"Hmm-grand."_

_"Abu, you may have had everyone else fooled, but I'm not one of them," he said much sterner. "Now, tell me," he began, gentle again, "what's troubling you?"_

_"It's nothing, really," I tried to assure him, "it's just-shouldn't we go to pay our respects?"_

_"Respects?!" he laughed, hartily, "what respects? Respects to whom!?"_

_"Well, to the Great Forest Spirit of course," I said, "after all, he's made all of this possible. The flowers have bloomed, the music of the forest is playing-why, without him, you wouldn't even be living in this incredible piece of land, that no other such animal dares to venture through. Isn't it only right to thank him?"_

_"Without him? Ha!" he scoffed, "a phoney if ever there was one. Superstitous nonsense, that's all it is. He's nothing more than a deer with over-grown antlers. Me and my pack of soldiors could easily take him down any time we want."_

_Although, techically, the Great Forest Spirit makes everything in nature's balance possible, including him, Dangelo never belived in the beast. He refused to learn anything new about him, and did very little to pay his respects._

_What we didn't know, is that hiding in the bushes, secretly planning an ambush, were Soto and his gang, their faces etched with a murderous, michievious expression in the darkness. The leaves closing in on them hid them away from all the excitement and hustle and bustle of the party._

_"We're right on schedule," muttered Soto, his eyes cold and hard, "you got that stampede ready yet, fellas?"_

_"Almost there, Soto," Lenny called back._

_"We're just missing one thing," Oscar informed him._

_"What's that?!"_

_"Diego."_

_"That idiot. Thinks that I'll tolerate being kept waiting. Well, we'll just see about that."_

_"Hey Soto?" Zeke spoke up, "when are we gonna break the news to him anyway?"_

_"What news?" growled Soto._

_her _

_"About why we're actually here," he said._

_Soto laughed, evilly. "I think he'll find out soon enough."_

_At that moment, Diego appeared from the bushes, looking excited and pumped._

_"I'm here!" he called brightly. Being the youngest of the group, he was easily lead into things that Soto assured him were for, "the good of the kingdom."_

_"Well, well," muttered Oscar, "talk of the devil, and he will appear!"_

_Diego growled at him._

_"So, Chosen One, ready to get started?" Oscar asked._

_"You bet! I've always loved parties!" Diego_

_began, but when Soto broke the news for him, he quickly became extremely reluctant. "What?! No!"_

_"You want to be part of the gang don't you?" snarled Soto._

_"Yeah, but-"_

_"But NOTHING! Now, get to your position."_

_Diego crouched down to where the herd of gazelles were grazing._

_"Ready?"_

_"I guess."_

_"Good." began, but when Soto broke the news for him, he quickly became extremely reluctant. "What?! No!"_

_"You want to be part of the gang don't you?" snarled Soto._

_"Yeah, but-"_

_"But NOTHING! Now, get to your position."_

_Diego crouched down to where the herd of gazelles were grazing._

_"Ready?"_

_"I guess."_

_"Good."_

_He waited a moment, then gave the signal._

_"NOW!"_

_Diego pounced, and roared. The gazelles, startled and terrified, ran away in the direction of the party. Soto then flew out of the bushes, swiftly followed by the others. "He's hunting, he's hunting! Diego is hunting!" Dangelo stood up as soon as he heard the sound of hooves from not so far away. Rocks on the groud were beggining to shake, he noticed. And then, just then, fast as lightening, the herd of gazelles stampeded through the bushes, scattering in all directions, trampling everything in sight. Tigers were screaming, falling down, trying to get to shelter. Things were being knocked over, kicked about, run over._

_When all the commotion and horror had ended, and the dust had cleared, more than 15 tigers had been injured. Queen Olena, weak and ragged, slowly got up, and made sure that her loyal subjects were alright. That was before Diego came forward, just as the council got to their feet...at the body of his dead father._

_He stood there, in a state of shock, just like his mother, who stood there, breathing deeply. Dangelo's bloody, mangled body lay in the centre of the party, his eyes still half open, lifeless and still. The hooves of the gazelles had crushed his insides, cutting off his airways you see. The tiger council, all gathered round Diego, shameing him. The head of the council spoke first. He never shouted, nor raised his voice. All he did was stay at the same, disapointed tone and level._

_"Diego," began the head, "you have failed to be responsible on the day of the founding of the Realm of the Tigers. And it is because of this, that now, your father is dead."_

_Diego did nothing. I watched as the mournful -looking young tiger, stared at the ground, blinking in disbelief._

_"And this is why it is our duty to expell you from this land. For eternity."_

_I covered my mouth with my hand in horror. Banishment?! To merely a cub?! Of course I was tromendously sad at the death of my adopted son, Dangelo, but even now, I am glad, because it means that at least the demon would have ridden itself of his now useless body._

_"You shall be banished and set on your way along with Soto and his cronies. The king is dead,and although you are the only heir to the throne, you have commited an unforgivable crime. We shall see you now, Diego, young prince. From now on,you are dead to us."_

_Diego turned, and with one sad-cast, meloncholic look at his mother, Olena, who's eyes now brimmed with tears, he left, into the forest, along with Soto and the rest of the troublesome sabres, who had already recieved their punishments, away from the kingdom, and never to return. I stayed with Olena that day, only to watch her starve, as she did not eat, or drink, or sleep. Until one day, she passed away. I will never forget the sadness in her eyes..." _

Abu had told the last part of the story without any interuptions, and now only a deafening silence could be heard. Until it was finally broken by Abu himself.

"Since then, poor Diego here has lived a life of hatred and anger. His father's curse may have been lifted that day, but his still remained. Once the demon has latched itself onto another body, another soul, it will never let go."

"So, Diego's a prince?!" said Eddie, "but, how?"

"Born in another world, dude," replied Crash, "once a tiger, always a tiger."

"Correct you are, my boy," said Abu, still looking at Diego.

"So, now what do we do?" sighed Manny sadly.

"In his state, there's really not much else we can give him," sighed Abu.

"But we can't just give up!" Eddie blurted.

"Yeah, there's gotta be something we can do to help!" pleaded Ellie, "isn't there, Abu?"

Abu looked at them all very carefully, exhaling deeply and then spoke.

"Well, there is one way," he stated, "although unfortunetly it is the hard way."

"What is it?" asked Manny. Even if it was dangerous, he was still willing to do anything it took to help his friend. His friend. It'd been a while since Manny had called Diego that. For days and days he had thought he had been angry at him, but that was before he'd seen the state he was in. No matter how long it took, no matter how many days, weeks or nights, Manny wasn't going to let his friend down.

Abu began tidying up the assorted rocks and stones in his circle, and seemed to be, for whatever reason, sprinkling them with tiny grains of sand from the dry and arid, unwatered ground.

"There is an old urban myth," he told them, "that the Great Forest Spirit still roams the pool it once walked in all those years ago. That it still has the ability to heal and cure thing's of whatever it's burden, no matter how heavy. I know a remedy for Diego's curse. It may be risky, and it may be dangerous, but all we need are the right ingredients and the right ammount of the magic and power that keeps these forests alive."

"Wait-you mean you have medicine?!" Ellie asked.

Abu nodded. "It is a special remedy, passed down to me from generations. But if I tell it to you, it means you must have the same dedication and deovotion into helping your friend here, in order to restore him to his former health."

San got up from where she had been kneeling. "I'm in," she said quietly, determination in her eyes.

"If San's in, I'm in," stated Ellie, also stepping forward.

"I'm in too," nodded Shira, smiling a little. Okay, so her and Diego didn't exactly get on. Although she often reffered to him as "partner," or "friend," they weren't exactly the perfect match. But she didn't want to go back to living on a pirate ship, she wanted to stay with the herd. And she wasn't going to let the one who had saved her from all of that, and so kindly offered her a place in the herd, die a very slow and painful death.

Then Manny stepped forward to join his mate. "I will too," he paused staring at what seemed to be Diego. If it was him, that is, it looked more like a tangled mass of burnt, and raw orange fur, still bleeding slightly, "For Diego."

"We will, we will!" chorused the possums.

"And me!" said Peaches, stepping forwared beside her parents, "he's my uncle, after all, and he was the one who watched over me when I grew up!" Louis gupled.

"I-I'm n-n-ot so sure I would w-want to go. M-my parents would be w-worried about me."

But after some convincing from Peaches, he finally agreed to go.

"Never fear, Sid is here!" said the sloth, striking a dramatic pose and earning an eye-roll from Manny. Sid carefully tiptoed over to Diego and patted him slowly on the nose. "Don't worry, old buddy," he whispred in the sabre's ear, "we'll save ya! Soon you'll be back to your old self!"=

But the uncertainty in his voice unsettled San, and she, the last one you would expect, hoped the sloth was right.

"Now, pay close attention to me," ordered Abu, "for here are your instructions, and they will be importent to remember for later on. First, I need a rose petal from one of the giant rose bushes in the North forest. Red ones preferably, the petal must be the brightest shade of red, or else the potion shall not take full effect. Second, I need a jasmine flower from the Forests of the South. The best ones grow there, this one should be pale blue. Third, I need some hot water from the stream, any stream, any water, I shall boil it later on. Peaches, Louis, in the forests to the East, there are assorted arrangments of fruit and flowers and green tea leaves, you must pick any you find, and return them all to me. Fourth, Crash and Eddie, you must get our most vital ingredient. The coulis flower. It's bright pink, and very big and it grows up on the rocks and crevices in the Forest of the West. Crash, Eddie, I am trusting you two boys with this task. Afterwards, you must get the honey from the beehive that sits next to the flower. That sweet, sticky food will be the mixture that we mash up the rest of our ingredients in. We're relying on you two boys, have you got that?"

"Oh, Sir, Yes SIR!" the possums saluted.

"Which reminds me. We're going to need something to contain the mixture in. There's an old human settlement not far from here. In fact, it's right on the edge of the Forests of the West. The humans there mostly make iron bowls and weapons. But what we're after is a wooden bowl, one made from oak should maybe do it. San, I am trusting you to do this."

_"Me?!" _San half squealed, half gupled.

"Well, you are the only human here, out of all of us, so you will be able to sneak into the camp unoticed!" Abu explained.

San didn't bother to tell him that she'd tried to murder the camp's leader, Lady Eboshi, numerous times and (unsuccessful) attempts to injure her with her dagger when she was a young girl. That was back when she lived with wolves and met the first three members of the herd. Manny, Sid and even the remorseless Diego were more than a little taken aback at her intentions. Stabbing a young woman to death was hardly a normal human girl thing to do. But that was because San was not a normal human girl.

"Please San," pleaded Ellie, "you're our last hope. Who else would be able to sneak in there?"

Everyone was looking at her now, almost expectantly. Even the possum twins had taken to begging simultainously.

Defeated, San hung her head. "Alright. I suppose I'll try."

"Excellent," nodded Abu, "now remember everyone. It is Diego who is hurt. We will need him if we ever want the medicine to work. To complete the ritual, we'll have to carry Diego to the place where he was born. The ruins of the Realm of the Tigers. Right on the edge of the Forest Spirit's pool. By carrying him, I mean on our backs. You must go to Great Forest Spirit, that is, if he still inhabits the place. You must go to him and ask politely for Diego to be cured. San and Sid, that's your job."

"Aww what?!" Sid whined, "with her?! No Way!"

San glared at him. "Do I have to?" she sighed to Abu.

Abu laughed. "I'm afraid so, my dear," he replied, "you're friend's life depends on it."

San sighed. "Fine, if it'll help Diego, then I'll do it."

"Excellent," Abu repeated, "now, while you're all gone fetching the materials, I will stay here and keep watch over Diego."

"But-what about Shira?!" Sid asked in alarm, sounding hilariously like Flynn, one of Shira's old crewmates. In fact if it hadn't been for the genuine seriousness of the situation, then everyone would have burst out laughing!

"Shira will stay here and sit with him with me," Abu said, matter-of-factly, as if all of this had just been arranged yesterday, (for all they knew, maybe he did know about it, he could see into the future after all,) "I know how hard it is for her-and for all of you."

"We won't let you down, Abu," Manny told him.

"I know you won't, Manfred."

Suddenly, there came a distant roar from far away, that took them all by surprise and left the possum twins jumping into a comical embrace. It continued to echo off the snowy fir trees, until it eventually died out.

"But we must hurry!" urged Abu, "you've got to get the medicine by sunset, or else it won't take full effect, and you may lose your friend forever!"

The herd hurriedly headed for their positions next to the directions they had been asked to go in, and bid their farewells to Abu.

"Don't worry Manfred. He is in safe hands. I have seen this case many times before."

"What if we don't make it back in time?" Manny asked concerned.

"You will," Abu reassured, "I'm sure of it."

"Oh," San whimpred mournfully, and then she burst into tears again, something that she hardly ever did, "what if we don't do it in time? What if the humans shoot at me?"

Abu stared at her contemptedly for a few seconds, then beckoned her over with an apeish finger. San stepped forward sniffing. When she got to Abu, he cupped her head in his hands and looked at her with deep, kind eyes.

"Listen to me," he said, "who else would I be trusting with Diego's life then his own half-sister?"

San wiped her tears away hurriedly with the back of her arm and nodded. Abu exchanged the gesture, and San gave him a small hug. =

"We won't let you down Abu," said San.

"I know you won't, my dear. I know you'll be just fine." He looked up at the rest of the animals. "Good luck mammals," Abu told each and every one of them, "I-we are counting on you."

"Will you be fine here by yourself?" Ellie asked Shira, anxiety in her voice, "you've had enough isolation down by the lake, haven't you?"

"Don't worry about me," Shira told her, (she really was tough) "really, I'll be fine. Right now, you've got to focus on your own problems. You're own tasks. What Abu told you to do. I haven't met him for very long, but I know now that he is a wise kind and generous guy-unlike that of the ones I used to hang around with."

"You must go now," Abu gently urged them, "remember you all must go to the Four Corners of the Forests. Go now, and do not return to me until I have found you. I'll summone you with magic. When you see three small glowing red rocks being tossed in the air from far away, mammoths, come running. Then we will take Diego to the Forest Spirit's pool. I bid you farewell now, mammals. And I wish you luck and good fortune with each of your tasks."

"So long, Abu," San said softly.

"Be careful, my dear," he said.

Abu nodded and kissed her hand. San followed the rest of the group, as they all went their seperate ways, up the winding paths into the forests. As he watched them all go, he spoke in a voice almost in a whisper.

"Be very careful."

**So, how did I do with this one? It was a little difficult, and as you've probably noticed, I haven't updated as much. Sorry for this, but I got stuck, maybe because you're writing about a character who's past we don't know much about, so I really had to rack my brains, looking for some good ideas. For example: what happened at the party, and how Diego's father died. But I'm really happy with how it turned out. Again, please remember to review and sorry about how long this chapter is, I just LOVE writing them at this length! Please say in your reviews if I maneged to explain everything, because I'm sure some of you in my previous chapters, were thinking, "what is heck is going on here?!" or if there's anything I could improve on! And I shall try to update soon, because we can't leave Diego lying on the floor like that forever now, can we?! And Manny and the herd have got to help find the ingredients for the medicine to help him. And San has now got to break into a human camp, which for all you fellow Ghibli fans out there, will be very familier...also, sorry for how long this Author's Note is, this really is quite a habit! XD :D :)**


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